Women have always played a significant role in agriculture, where agriculture is a primary source of income for a large section of the population. According to the latest available data from the National Sample Survey (NSS) conducted in 2011–12, around 30% of women in India are engaged as agricultural labourers. This number has remained relatively constant over the past decade.

Breaking the ploughshare ceiling

Furthermore, women's work in agriculture is often unrecognised and undervalued, and they face significant gender-based barriers that limit their productivity and income. One of the significant challenges that women farmers face is the lack of access to modern farm equipment, such as tractors. Tractors are an essential tool for modern agriculture, and their use can significantly increase productivity and reduce labour costs. However, women farmers often do not have access to tractors, and even if they do, they may not be trained in their operation.

This is where the need for women farmers to learn tractor driving comes in. Tractor driving is a crucial skill for modern agriculture, and it can help women farmers increase their productivity, reduce their labour costs, and improve their incomes. By learning tractor driving, women farmers can operate tractors independently, without having to depend on male labour, which can be costly and limited.

Building a better tomorrow

With the objective of #TogetherWeRise and to provide equal opportunities for women and youth of the rural section of society, the AFS CSR Team designed a unique CSR programme named “Livelihood through Farm Mechanisation”, which was launched in partnership with the NGO Centum Foundation in FY'22.

This programme envisioned imparting training to rural youth and women:

• As a tractor operator and tractor mounted agriculture machine operator
• To bridge the gender disparity in farm mechanisation
• Improve the penetration of farm mechanisation in the selected geography

Learning tractor driving can also empower women farmers and challenge gender norms and stereotypes that limit their participation in agriculture. By acquiring this essential skill, women shatter gender stereotypes and societal norms that restrict their mobility and financial independence, paving the way for their empowerment and fostering gender equality.

Training triumphs

720 beneficiaries are already trained under this project across 3 FD plant locations (Nagpur, Jaipur, and Zaheerabad), out of which 232 are women and 100% are first-time tractor drivers in their family. 100% of trainees have received a learning license, and 80% have also received a permanent driving license. A total of 626 farmers have been indirectly benefited through (OJT) segment of the curriculum, where trainees have ploughed 1,599 acres of land using tractor-mounted farm equipment, which has also saved them an input cost of INR 34 lakh, which they incurred earlier on hiring rental tractors and equipment.