Women in Agriculture

Lesson 36 : Technological Needs of Farm Women

Identification of Technological Needs of women-Life Cycle Approach

The following table in which a life cycle has been drawn within a rural household with the help of certain critical indicators would help in identifying technology needs and interventions.

SI.No	Indicators	Manifestation	Required Technological Intervention
1	Health Percentage of Unsafe Deliveries i.e., without trained birth attendant	High infant mortality High maternal mortality Infant morbidity.	Providing safe home delivery kits and giving training to birth attendants
2	Safe Drinking Water Percentage of Houses with unsafe drinking water	Anemia Worm infestation High morbidity Low productive capacity Water borne diseases that can result in mortality Additional medical costs	Awareness generation Providing low cost home based technology for water purification. Awareness for Chlorination of water. Roof water Harvesting systems
3	Hygiene & Sanitation Percentage of houses without latrines Percentage of houses without connectivity for waste water.	Anemia Worm infestation High morbidity Low productive capacity Water borne diseases that can result in mortality additional medical costs	Awareness Generation. Providing low cost sanitary toilets and community level bathrooms. Disposal of agricultural waste through composting and vermi­-composting
4	Nutritional Status- Protein Calorie Malnutrition. Micronutrient Malnutrition. Percentage of children with anaemia. Percentage of women with anaemia	High infant mortality Maternal mortality high morbidity Low productive capacity Micronutrient deficiencies cause lack of immunity and a deterioration in the general health condition.	Awareness generation regarding malnutrition and its consequences on the lives of the people. Awareness generation regarding low cost nutritional diet from locally available foods. Local production of weaning foods for infants. Production of High energy mixes for prevention of malnutrition and anemia in adolescent girls, production of special energy foods for expectant and nursing mothers, so as to address the inter­generation cycle of malnutrition. Preservation of fruits and vegetables at the house- Hold/community level through low cost simple technology for sale as well as consumption.
5	Literacy Literacy Male Literacy Female Literacy	Low access to information Lack of awareness Low bargaining power Low-income generation capacity Poverty trap. Early marriage, early child bearing, inter generational cycle of poverty.	Provision of low cost affordable literacy material at the house hold level to promote joyful learning and for school going children of all ages. Special learning material and infrastructure in village educational institutions for challenged children.
6	Employment Work Force Participation rate Employment Rate i.e., unemployed/ labour force	Lack of empowerment Low level of skills Low bargaining power Low-income generation capacity Poverty trap.	Providing high level of skilled development both in the farm and non-farm sector. The skill should be selected in consultation with the community to fit into the natural demand supply pattern prevailing in that area and nearby. Skills should be enhanced through technology so as to increase the value added and income generation.
7	Energy Percentage of household with electricity in rural areas.	Low productivity Low literacy Unhygienic conditions	Promotion of non-conventional energy like biomass energy, biogas energy, solar energy, hydraulic energy, wind energy, water energy.

The life cycle approach for rural technology would follow the principle that from birth to adolescence, appropriate technology should be available to rural communities so as to achieve satisfactory levels of health, nutrition, education and life skills. This could facilitate our human resources from realizing their complete physical and cognitive potential and would lay a sound foundation for better productivity, lesser morbidity, and higher income generation capacity.

To consolidate, it can be stated that rural women need technologies that

1. Upgrades their Knowledge and skill- Knowledge empowerment technologies.
2. Reduces their stress and strain- Drudgery reduction technologies.
3. Enhances the qualitative and quantitative value of raw products- Value addition.
4. Technologies Increases income and employment-Gainful and additional employment technologies.
5. Establishes new enterprises-Income generation technologies.

Some women friendly technologies to satisfy the technological needs