With a gradual decline in the size of farm holdings, small and marginal farmer families are in need of multiple sources of income to come out of the poverty trap. Rural men belonging to resource-poor families increasingly tend to go to towns and cities seeking work and income earning opportunities. Consequently, there is increasing feminization of agriculture. While women farmers are extremely hardworking and are also conversant with sustainable agriculture practices, they suffer from several handicaps such as title to land, as well as access to credit, inputs, insurance, technology and markets. As early as 1995, the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing urged developing countries to pay attention to the gender specific needs of women farmers.

India has just enacted a landmark Food Security Act. Legal entitlements to food can be implemented only by improving the productivity, profitability and sustainability of small farm holdings, since small and marginal farmers produce nearly 50 per cent of the food-grains in the country, as well as milk and a wide variety of vegetables and fruits. The need for paying special attention to the needs of women farmers has been recognized by initiating a Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana in the Union Budget of 2010–11.

In order to safeguard national food security, and to strengthen the livelihood security of rural women, a majority of whom are engaged in crop and animal husbandry, fisheries, agro-forestry and agro-processing, I introduced the Women Farmers’ Entitlements Bill in the Rajya Sabha on 11 May 2012.

The preamble to the Bill reads: