Articles
CONTRIBUTION OF TRIBAL WOMEN IN TEMPERATE HORTICULTURE
Article number
696_102
Pages
583 – 588
Language
English
Abstract
The present study attempts to highlight the magnitude of female labour participation in apple orchards and estimate the contribution of female labour to the total income from horticultural crops.
Digging of pits, preparation of basins, FYM and fertilizer application, irrigation, watch and ward, cleaning of the orchards and applying paste after training/pruning, picking and assembling of fruits and taking them to godowns were the female dominated tasks and about 65-70 per cent of the labour required for these operations was supplied by women which comprised of family as well as hired for cash or kind.
On the other hand, the operations like lay out, purchase of nursery plants, planting, training, pruning, plant protection and marketing were the male dominated and female labour provided about 30-40 per cent of the labour input required.
It was noticed that women participation was more (45 per cent) in cultural and physical control of insect pests as compared to chemical control (31per cent). Grading and packing of fruits is a very important operation in fruit cultivation and was generally carried out by specially trained males.
In post-harvest management of fruits also women contributed significantly through home scale preparation of different products like jams, jellies, pickles, chutney, brewing wines, etc.
But for the technical decisions like selection of varieties, rootstocks and plants, plant protection measures, time and place to market the produce etc. the females were totally dependent on their male counterparts.
The results of Eulers theorem showed that the share of female labour to total income was higher than their male counterparts.
The commercial fruit cultivation involves greater use of new technologies and inputs to which the tribal women, the major input providers, need to be exposed.
They need to be trained in different technical operations using time saving techniques in horticulture preferably through female extension workers, so as to reduce their drudgery and make better utilization of their time.
In order to commercially utilize the indigenous knowledge of tribal women in processing of fruits, women co-operatives/local organizations should be promoted to take up these activities at large scale to uplift the socio- economic status of tribal women.
Digging of pits, preparation of basins, FYM and fertilizer application, irrigation, watch and ward, cleaning of the orchards and applying paste after training/pruning, picking and assembling of fruits and taking them to godowns were the female dominated tasks and about 65-70 per cent of the labour required for these operations was supplied by women which comprised of family as well as hired for cash or kind.
On the other hand, the operations like lay out, purchase of nursery plants, planting, training, pruning, plant protection and marketing were the male dominated and female labour provided about 30-40 per cent of the labour input required.
It was noticed that women participation was more (45 per cent) in cultural and physical control of insect pests as compared to chemical control (31per cent). Grading and packing of fruits is a very important operation in fruit cultivation and was generally carried out by specially trained males.
In post-harvest management of fruits also women contributed significantly through home scale preparation of different products like jams, jellies, pickles, chutney, brewing wines, etc.
But for the technical decisions like selection of varieties, rootstocks and plants, plant protection measures, time and place to market the produce etc. the females were totally dependent on their male counterparts.
The results of Eulers theorem showed that the share of female labour to total income was higher than their male counterparts.
The commercial fruit cultivation involves greater use of new technologies and inputs to which the tribal women, the major input providers, need to be exposed.
They need to be trained in different technical operations using time saving techniques in horticulture preferably through female extension workers, so as to reduce their drudgery and make better utilization of their time.
In order to commercially utilize the indigenous knowledge of tribal women in processing of fruits, women co-operatives/local organizations should be promoted to take up these activities at large scale to uplift the socio- economic status of tribal women.
Publication
Authors
B. Bala, S.D. Sharam
Keywords
cultivation, main workers, marginal workers, labour intensive
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