Contribution of women in the agriculture according to the sub-sectors Essay

Crop Production In Bangladesh, a common social perception exists according to which women in the farm households do not perform field and market work and Men do not undertake most of the productive activities carried out in the proximity of the homestead. But in reality among poor households, such clearly demarcated gender divisions of labor do not apply. The traditional gender relations with women’s involvement in post-harvest work and men’s in fieldwork have not remained static over time. Presently, due to extreme poverty and a food crisis, social norms and traditions are changing and women are appearing in the field as well. About 60-70% of women from landless and near-landless households work as agricultural wage laborers, whereas women from larger farms do not participate in field activities. In the Grameen Krishi Foundation working areas in North-West Bangladesh, women equally share all tasks in rice production, even the presumably male task of irrigation. Forestry Women use the forest products for food, fuel as well as for handicrafts. Women in rural Bangladesh are responsible for obtaining the household fuel supply. They collect firewood from the forests. A traditional role of Bangladeshi women is collecting dung for fuel from the forests where cattle graze. Cow dung is the largest source (6. 6 million ton or 26% in 1992-93) of traditional fuels in the unorganized sector. Women also have a major role in homestead forestry. Livestock In Bangladesh, women are in general responsible for livestock and poultry rearing. Poultry rearing is a traditional activity performed by women for income generation. Feeding livestock, cleaning sheds, securing them properly for the night, and health care are the activities performed by women. Men are involved in the heavy work with the animals such as taking them out of the compound. Owing to their crucial role in livestock care, women are generally consulted while buying and selling the livestock. Women take care of the farmyard manure collection thus reducing recycling, which has important consequences for soil fertility. Fisheries Women in Bangladesh have diversified roles in fisheries, with substantial participation in small-scale fisheries. In Barisal and Rajashahi districts, women catch fish. They, to a large extent, carry out the drying, curing, and marketing of fish as hawkers, stall keepers in permanent market places and weekly bazaars. The majority of the employees in shrimp processing plants in Chittagong and Khulna are women. Women are also predominantly involved in net-making, the main income generating occupation in many families, and freshwater fish farming (FAO, 1980). Women have traditionally participated primarily as family labor in preparing fish nets and, in some areas, in fish processing. In some NGO and government programs, women from landless households cultivate fish individually or jointly in leased ponds, either within or near the homestead. Contribution of Agriculture in National Export-Earnings Agriculture of Bangladesh has not occupied an important place in the external trade yet. Contribution of agriculture to the export earnings even now is not so significant, still the potential of agro-based/ agro processed products is becoming visible now and there are valid reasons as to why this sub-sector should get due attention of the policy makers, trade bodies as well as producers/ exporters. Bangladesh as most of the LDC and net food importing developing countries has conflicting interests on many issues of agricultural negotiations, particularly on food security and market access perspective. Agriculture contributes about 9% of the world trade, but the world trade in agriculture was never run under a free trade regime. Budget Year Export-Earnings from Agriculture Rate of Export-Earnings 1991-92 268 13. 44 1992-93 314 13. 17 1993-94 347 13. 69 1994-95 452 13. 01 1995-96 476 12. 25 1996-97 526 11. 88 1997-98 502 9. 70. 1998-99 422 7. 92 1999-00 440 8. 15 2000-01 484 7. 48 2001-02 390 6. 51 2002-03 462 7. 59 2003-04 553 7. 84 2004-05 310 5. 35 Fig: Contribution of Agriculture in Export Earning Contribution of agriculture in credit market Agro finances a very much important part of the agriculture. And a huge amount of agri financing comes from the bank loans which is both Government and Non Government bank loan. Besides many NGO’s are also giving agricultural loan. So that it can be said that agriculture has a number of shares in the credit market. It has been concluded in different studies that the agricultural credit advanced by the financial institutions (banks) is not easily available to the farmers. On the other hand, Grameen Bank and quite a number of NGOs are giving credit to the farmers, although much of that credit is being used for non-agricultural purposes. However, the major proportion of agricultural credit still comes from the financial institutions. But the amount of credit that is available from this institutional source fulfills only an insignificant portion of the total credit requirement.