Good Friday and Good Farmers: What April 2026 Has in Store

 We are living in troubling times. Global supply chains are being disrupted. The wars across Eurasia are sending shockwaves to Food Security across the globe. 

Farmers, especially good farmers with access to training, technology, resources, and markets enable food self-sufficiency and food security in these uncertain times. On God Friday, a day for reflection and prayer in search of peace, salvation and enlightenment, in addition to God let us reflect on good farmers, agriculturists, cowherds, and good shepherds who ensure our survival by growing and producing food and nutrition we need to exist. 

Good Farmers

Building in access to clean water, affordable and clean energy as well as training for climate resilience and market access can ensure that farmers thrive. When farmers thrive the agricultural sector and food security thrives with them boosting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a whole. 

2026 has been declared the International Year of the Woman Farmer (IYWF) with the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization headquartered in Rome taking the lead even as governments, NGOS and institutions make it local and their own. With the theme "Empowered Women, Transforming Agrifood Systems" IYWF covers a vast mandate. 

Empowered Women Farmers Make Good Farmers

April is an eventful time with a lot of synergies with IYWF globally as well as regionally, nationally and locally especially in the Indian context.

• Easter, Elections and Census of India will shape India.
• Many regional New Years including Tamil New Year, Sinhala New Year, Bihu, all follow.
• April 21st is World Creativity and Innovation Day with the 2026 theme being "Harnessing Creativity for Global Progress."
• April 22nd is Earth Day with the theme "Our Power, Our Planet." 
• April 24th in India is both Women's Political Empowerment Day (since 1993) and National Panchayati Raj Day (since 2010) "to mark the implementation of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment in 1993. It recognizes the importance of local self-governance, empowering rural communities through Panchayats."

Both in the case of  Elected Women Representatives (EWRs) and the Panchayat - the unit of self-governance in India the focus will be on the Government of India's (GOI) "SVAMITVA Scheme: Aatmanirbhar Panchayat se Samriddh evam Aatmanirbhar Bharat," promoting self-reliant villages and secure property rights.

Empowering women farmers and women political leaders of rural India makes for self reliant villages and helps secure property rights. Smallholding farmers, tribal farmers, women farmers face many challenges in securing land rights and property rights which as essential for access to farm credit, insurance and programmes. Innovation and innovative programmes and policies can ensure ease of empowering women farmers and transforming agrifood systems. 

Creative and innovative Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) programmes and policies targeting SDGs can help empower Good Farmers, especially Women Farmers and enable Food Security, self sufficiency and self-reliance in these troubled times buffeted by war, climate change and natural disasters. 

April is also the time of Legislative Assembly elections across many states of India as well as the launch of the Union Census of the over a billion citizens of India. Farmers, women farmers and empowered women farmers will be front and centre as they  are the backbone of Bharat's economy and self sufficiency (Atmanirbartha).

• The states of Assam, Keralam, Karnataka, Goa, Nagaland and Tripura and the Union Territory of  Puducherry go to polls on April 9th, 2026.
• My home state, Tamil Nadu goes to polls on April 23, 2026 along with Gujarat and Maharashtra and Phase I of polling in the state of West Bengal. 
• West Bengal Legislative Assembly's Phase II of polling is on April 29th, 2026. 

This makes for very interesting times across India with many poll promises and freebies targeting women and farmers but rarely women farmers! Maybe things will be different in the Year of the Woman Farmer. but in the end its policies and implemented programmes that empower women farmers that actually make for good farmers not just election promises. Yet the actions taken in April 2026 will shape programmes and policies for years to come, especially in India.

Stay tuned to see how these interesting D-Days of April 2026.will shape the lives of Women Farmers and programmes of CSR, SDG & ESG.