Deep Roots

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] 129

Family farming: powering

the future of agriculture

Reema Nanavaty, Self-Employed Women’s Association

he Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) is a

trade union working for poor, self-employed women

workers. It was founded in 1972 with the main objec-

tive of organizing members to provide full employment and

self-reliance. Spread across 14 states in India, SEWA has

a membership of over two million women. It is the single

largest union of self-employed women in India, as well as

being affiliated and active in seven South Asian countries.

Nearly two-thirds of SEWA’s members live in rural areas, and

54 per cent have agriculture as their main or only source of

income and food for their family. SEWA’s members include not

only small and marginal landholders, but also landless agricul-

tural sharecroppers and casual labourers. While working with

these farmers SEWA realized that the agriculture sector is full

of problems. It is an unorganized sector of the economy, where

farmers have to face problems like irregularity of work, low and

unequal wages (based on factors such as season or gender),

unskilled labour force, lack of employment opportunities, lack

of skill development, degradation of the soil and other natural

resources, and above all no income security even after working

for long hours. They have no direct market access. Climate

change is bringing increasing difficulties, as changes in weather

patterns are already significantly affecting productivity. Women

farmers are the worst affected, as despite contributing much

to agriculture they are not recognized for their work, receive

lower wages, and are often employed in worse conditions so the

whole family remains hungry.

In order to address these problems affecting small and

marginal farmers, in 1995 SEWA initiated its agriculture

campaign with an approach that treats agriculture as an indus-

try led by small and marginal farmers – an industry capable

of becoming fully self-sustainable and profitable, and moving

away from subsistence.

Along with SEWA’s agriculture campaign, with the support

of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, in

2009 SEWA and a group of partners started working on the

creation of a national Farmers’ Forum under the Medium Term

Cooperation Programme with Farmers’ Organizations in Asia

and the Pacific. The objective is to create and strengthen the

network of small and marginal farmers’ organizations in India

and to increase their visibility, voice and representation with a

focus on small and marginal women farmers.

Since its foundation SEWA has focused on education and

capacity-building as central elements of its activities, in the

belief that these are crucial for strengthening farmers’ self-

reliance and capacity to collectively demand action by the

Government. In recognition of SEWA’s efforts, in 2014, under

Many farmers are women, who are often best placed to work towards their

families’ economic and social security

SEWA’s Mobile Ration Van supplies wheat, rice and sugar to women in

remote villages in the arid area of Patan district

Image: SEWA

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