Gender-responsive agricultural extension is key to Viksit Bharat. Discuss.

Agricultural extension carries research, technology and scheme information to farmers. Women make up 59.8% of India's agricultural workforce (PLFS 2025) [1]. Extension that ignores their needs therefore misses most of the people doing farm work. This makes gender-responsive extension central to the Mahila Kisan Diwas 2026 theme of "Developed Agriculture and a Developed India" [1].

Why it matters for Viksit Bharat

• Productivity: On farms of equal size, women-managed farms produce 24% less. FAO links this gap to unequal access to inputs and technology, not to skill. Closing the productivity and wage gaps could add nearly USD 1 trillion to global GDP and cut food insecurity by 45 million people [2].
• Value chain and enterprise: Women sow, harvest, rear livestock and add value to produce [1]. Targeted extension can move them from labour into agri-enterprises.
• Sustainability: Women hold traditional knowledge of seed and biodiversity conservation [1], which supports climate-resilient farming.

Existing mechanisms

• EEIs, SAMETIs and MANAGE, along with women extension staff, connect research to farmers [1].
• ICAR-CIWA, Bhubaneswar does dedicated research on women in agriculture [3].
• DAY-NRLM supports more than 4.6 crore Mahila Kisans through SHGs [4].

Gaps

• Ownership gap: Women operational holders farm only about 11.72% of the operated area (Agriculture Census 2015-16) [5]. Secure land rights go along with more technology use and investment [6]. Without a land title, women lack proof for credit and schemes.
• Institutional split: DAY-NRLM falls under the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), while extension sits with the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (DA&FW). As a result, women are reached as SHG members rather than as farmers in their own name [4][1].
• Event-centric approach: The annual observance sets no targets on land, credit or income [1].

Way forward

• Register every SHG Mahila Kisan in DA&FW's extension and credit systems.
• Use the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 to push joint titles and timely updating of land records.
• Publish sex-disaggregated Agriculture Census data so progress can be tracked against SDG 5.a.1.
• Have ICAR-CIWA test women-friendly tools and inputs [3]. Hold extension sessions at times and places that suit women.

Gender-responsive extension links productivity, food security and sustainability. India co-sponsored the UN resolution on the International Year of the Woman Farmer 2026, under which FAO will report progress to the UNGA [7]. India now needs to move from celebrating women farmers to measurable change in land, credit and services, in line with SDG 5 and the constitutional promise of equality. A Viksit Bharat depends on recognising women as farmers, not just as farm workers.