Towards recognition of women farmers

Imagine a farmer. The image that comes to mind is of a man. But when you look at who actually farms, it is increasingly women. This discrepancy between perception and reality is due to age-old practices of data collection, policy design, and definition of who a farmer is. This makes the millions of women who work on farms, make decisions in agriculture and contribute to production almost invisible. But that may finally start to change.

In July 2026, Maharashtra passed the Women Farmers Empowerment Act, which grants women independent recognition as farmers regardless of land ownership through the Woman Farmer Certificate. This is the first Indian state legislation to give enforceable legal form to the activity-based, land-separated definition of ‘farmer’, which the National Farmers Policy set out in 2007 but was never put into practice. The bill comes almost two decades after the policy and 15 years after a comparable law was first proposed at the national level (the last bill introduced in the Rajya Sabha in 2011). In fact, it is the culmination of three decades of farmers’ movements supported by civil society organizations.

Efforts at the state level have also sought to recognize women farmers before. Kerala’s Kudumbashree collectives enabled women to participate in group farming, while Odisha’s KALIA program reached out to landless women and sharecroppers. But the register of farmers disconnected from the land records was missing. Maharashtra’s legislation therefore represents a potentially important shift from recognizing the owner of agricultural land to recognizing the person who actually farms. This is important because women’s participation in agriculture has increased sharply.

The recognition gap

In 2025, agriculture employed roughly 110 million women and 127 million men (rural, according to PLFS, census-adjusted), bringing the sector closer to gender parity. The female agricultural workforce has more than doubled since 2017–18, and almost three-quarters of all rural working women are now in agriculture, compared to less than half of men. Unfortunately, most women work without pay. In 2025, more than 41% of women in agriculture were unpaid compared to 20% of men (Chart 1). In contrast, almost 63% of men were self-employed compared to 39% of women. While the status of women has improved over time, the gap remains stark. This is where the issue of recognition becomes critical, as women increasingly farm but are not necessarily recognized as farmers.

All states have a large population of women engaged in agriculture who never consider themselves farmers.

The worker-owner dichotomy

In India, women largely work on family land, although they may not own it or have their name on the land records, as patriarchal norms have meant that land records are primarily in men’s names. Subsequently, only 14% of operational agricultural land (measured primarily through land records) is owned by women (according to the 2015-16 agricultural census). The person whose name is on the records is included in the database and gets the benefits. As a result, not only does the recognition of women in agriculture as farmers remain ambiguous, but they also lack access to key central and state agricultural programs and incentives linked to land rights (land records).

All states have a large population of women engaged in agriculture who never consider themselves farmers. As each state uses its land revenue records as the source of truth for administrative purposes, the structural bias against women carries over into the access and database system. This ultimately translates into women farmers not having access to credit, subsidies, technology, extension services and other related opportunities. For example, only 23% of women were beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme, which provides direct financial assistance of ₹6,000 per year to land-eligible farmer families to support their agricultural expenses and household needs. For some countries, the difference is increasing (see graph 2).

Even in states where the share of women in the agricultural workforce is more than 50%, the share of women in most states is less than a third. The exceptions are revealing. Meghalaya, where women constitute 70% of the beneficiaries, is followed by Kerala with 44% aside. These states have institutional or social arrangements that give women greater recognition or access to land and agricultural resources. In some northeastern states, customary tenure and matrilineal systems matter; in Kerala, collective farming through groups like Kudumbashree provides an alternative route to participation and recognition.

At the other extreme are the states with some of the largest gaps. In Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, women make up almost two-thirds of the workforce but represent a small fraction of the beneficiaries. The binding limitation is not the land itself, but the identification system built on it. Where land record is the gatekeeper, women are more likely to be filtered out; where an alternative mechanism exists, women’s access increases substantially.

Year of the Farmer

While Maharashtra’s legislation came after decades of advocacy, it is well-timed. When the United Nations named 2026 the International Year of the Woman Farmer, Maharashtra took a potentially transformative first step, paving the way for other states to follow. The Maharashtra Act expands the definitions of “agriculture” and “woman farmer” to recognize residents engaged in agriculture for at least one agricultural season a year, irrespective of the nature of the land, through a “woman farmer certificate”.

Importantly, it expressly recognizes categories such as landless cultivator, landless cattle breeder, agricultural labourer, plantation worker and pastoralist. Essentially, this creates a pathway through which women who do not own land can gain an independent agricultural identity and gain access to state welfare systems and credit. But recognition on paper is only the beginning. Implementation will require either self-registration or identification of women farmers by the Gram Sabha, including women who have no land or land ownership in their name. In both cases, this will require a strong information campaign.

It also provides a new database of farmers. It will be necessary to develop the linkage of this database with existing agricultural databases and avoid duplication or exclusion, which will be an opportunity for States to cooperate. A standardized system across states to establish common definitions for identifying women farmers, issuing certificates and managing databases would facilitate the linking of farmer identities across programs and administrative platforms while preventing multiple registrations.

But recognition must then be reflected in access. Linking these certificates with Agri Stack (a digital platform developed by the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Welfare for farmers) and issuing FarmerIDs to women is essential to integrate them into the larger digital agriculture ecosystem. However, for recognition to translate into empowerment, sustained efforts at the grassroots level will be needed to familiarize women farmers with the programs and ensure effective access to them.

(The authors are with the Indian Council of Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER). The views expressed are personal.)

Published – 23 Sep 2026 07:30 IST