 "30% of agri-funds used for empowering women farmers: Pawar")
New Delhi: Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today said 30 percent of total funds under various farm schemes are being allocated for empowering women farmers.
“In order to ensure that funds get adequately devolved for women specific needs, 30 per cent of funds are being allocated for development of women farmers under various schemes/ programmes with a focus on formation of Women Self Help Groups,” Pawar said in a release.
He was speaking at the meeting of the Consultative Committee on “Women in Agriculture”. Ministers of State for Agriculture Charan Das Mahant and Tariq Anwar were present among other members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
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For a fast track growth of agriculture, the total plan outlay for agriculture has been increased by 18 per cent from Rs 17,123 crore in 2011-12 to Rs 20,208 crore in 2012-13.
Noting that rural women play a pivotal role in the entire gamut of agricultural operations ranging from land preparation to post-harvesting operations, Pawar stressed the need to enhance women farmers’ access to crop inputs like seed, water, credit and subsidy.
“Women are often not recognised as farmers for want of ownership of land and are not considered as beneficiaries under various government programmes and services. Due to wage differentials between men and women in some parts of the country, the situation gets further aggravated,” he said.
Elaborating the steps taken by his ministry to improve the plight of women farmers, he said, “Currently, there are number of schemes being implemented by the Agriculture Ministry, wherein there is a provision for women-specific activities. These include Gramin Bhandaran Yojana, Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, ATMA Scheme, National Food Security Mission National Horticulture Mission etc.”
Other ministries are also working towards empowering women farmers to bring about convergence and synergy, he said, adding that developing gender disaggregated data and gender budgeting are other key activities which have been taken up to bridge gender inequalities.
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