Supporting Women Farmers for Sustainable Development

 A sustained effort is needed to support women farmers to enable sustainable development beyond the International Year of the Woman Farmer (IYWF2026), Women's Day (IWD) and the scope of their conferences. It is a low hanging fruit and a potential windfall: supporting women farmers to boost the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in rural communities across the globe in general and in India in particularly to achieve objectives in greater numbers.

 Source: Empowering Women Farmers in Agriculture, Press Information Bureau of India (PIB), 23 March 2026

Beyond IYWF2026 & IWD 

A lot of  effort has been put in to empower women in the agri-food system, but it happens in pockets and silos, with limited reach and barriers to scaling-up whether they are government programs, PPP (public-private partnership) initiatives, CSR or ESG programs. Despite many award-winning efforts by women farmers and food and agricultural entrepreneurs the impact has been very local. With the feminization of agriculture more mainstream efforts, publicity and hand-holding is needed to improve the plight of women farmers and as a corollary the lives and livelihoods of rural communities.

Trinity Saioo of Meghalaya won the Padma Shri in 2020 for her efforts to train women and boost the production of the GI tagged Lakadong Turmeric. The efforts of this rural teacher single-handedly boosted multiple SDGs and developmental indicators and enabled sustainable development through empowering women to elevate local produce. 

They say one person can’t change an entire system. In Meghalaya, one teacher quietly proved otherwise.

A former school teacher from Mulieh village, Trinity Saioo turned to farming not just to support her family, but to transform an entire community. What began as a small step… pic.twitter.com/Ypmkya2asE

— The Better India (@thebetterindia) April 27, 2026

Krishi Sakhis, SHGs & Women Farmer Collectives

The Government of India is promoting Krishi Sakhis (literally: Farming Women Friends) trained women farmers who can help and train other women farmers to access government initiatives and funds to farm better. Women Farmer Collectives and Self-Help Groups are also doing great work locally in the community-level to empower women farmers and hand-hold them in accessing government, private and CSR programs, training and funding. 

 

 Tamil Nadu ranks number 13 in organic farming in India. Efforts such as EPIC-SS (Eco Park and Information Centre - Sustainable Solutions, Padur, Chennai) of former IAS officer Santha Sheela Nair and Kalpavriksha Farms - a food forest set up by Kalpana Manivannan, a Chennai high school biology teacher turned homesteader who won the Karamveer Chakra are doing a lot in promoting natural farming, organic farming and permaculture in the state. Education and hands-on training with access to best practices in action does more than elaborate policy documents and frameworks with little on-the-ground grassroots uptake. 

Think Tanks, Conferences and Research: Sharing Best Practices

The M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) in Chennai and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research's Central Institute for Women in Agriculture (ICAR-CIWA), Bhubaneswar have produced some great research on farming in general and methods to support women farmers in particular. 

 

 The MSSRF webinar on Pathways to Gender Justice as part of IWD2026 highlighted gaps and solutions to gender just transition in climate resilient agriculture in India. 

The March 2026 Global Conference on Women in Agri-Food Systems (GCWAS 2026) in New Delhi inaugurated by the President of India Droupadi Murmu in the presence of the Union Minister for Agriculture, Farmer Welfare and  Rural Livelihoods Shivraj Chauhan shone a spotlight on women farmers in India to international audiences while also becoming a repository of best practices and policy support for women farmers. 

Amplifying the voices and the efforts to support women farmers so that those who seek to improve their lives in the agri-food system is essential to ensure food security, human security, climate action and ecological action. Empowered women farmers will be the engines of change in our path to Viksit Bharat and Sustainable Development - locally, nationally and internationally. 

Creativity & Innovations For Our "Annadata"

 This week and month have many days and celebrations where Women Farmers are central. April 21st is World Creativity and Innovation Day with the 2026 theme being "Harnessing the Power of Creativity for Global Progress." A key aspect of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) being SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure - all vital to boost agriculture. 

Personally I find from all my interactions that no one can beat Rural Women of India in general and Women Farmers in particular in innovation and creativity in stretching resources and opportunities to serve them. They truly are pioneers in harnessing their creativity for progress of their family and community with their own progress just a happy byproduct never a priority.  Whatever opportunities, skills, training and lessons they access, rural women and women farmers seem to know how to extrapolate it into social progress and economic growth. 

The Sunshine Millennium 2011 Brochure

Meanwhile April 19-20, 2026 was celebrated as Akshaya Tritiya - a celebration of everlasting abundance as well as the birth of the Goddess of Food & Abundance - "Annapurna and our Annadata - the bestower of food. While marketing has made this festival all about buying gold, it is a time of charity and aiding the downtrodden as well as worshipping and valuing those who produce our food. In practice this mid-Spring festival is about honoring and empowering farmers among others in the quest for abundance and reduced inequalities (SDG 10).

See more on Gender, Agriculture and Climate Change in the summary and analysis of the above article from The Hindu in the InsightsIAS (Insights on India page) article.

Indigenous Women Farmers and Leaders - Australia ad Asia-Pacific

Empowerment and Opportunities

The brouhaha over "Nari Shakti" - Women's Political Empowerment that became a bit of a damp squib in the face of the delimitation issue also was an opportunity to empower women farmers by giving them a political voice to fight for their rights.  Population and depopulation pressures as well as the realities of urban and seasonal migration that has led to feminization of rural India, feminization of agriculture as well as feminization of poverty and they all have  women front and center. But there are many opportunities amidst the threats to the lives and livelihoods of rural women and women farmers. In this conversation it would be irresponsible if one doesn't mention the choice [forced by economic burdens) of many women agricultural and farm laborers choosing to sterilize themselves and sacrifice their fertility for economic opportunities. 

Harnessing Creativity and Innovation for Progress

Many award-winning model Panchayats (village administration) have addressed the needs of women and women farmers by giving them voice as mentioned in the post about the Institute of Social Sciences' interview of these award winning villages and their administrators. 

Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) are also do great work in improving the lives of rural women and farmers in general and women farmers in particular in many states of India. The key fact being the need to scale up and center the needs of women farmers in such SHGs and FPOs. By merging government programs and policies and corporate social responsibility (CSR) and ESG initiatives of companies - a public-private partnership (PPP) of sorts to tackle the needs of women farmers is truly addressing SDG 9 agriculturally. This is harnessing innovation for the progress of all farmers but especially women farmers.