Extent of Rural Women’s Participation in Agricultural Activities

Rural women in Pakistan, under a small holding system of farming, play a pivotal role in farming. They actively participate in a range of activities related to crop production and livestock management. Rural women remain busy from dawn to dusk in various agricultural activities, including pre-harvest, post-harvest and livestock management. Their participation is well dispersed but less perceived because of insufficient data to show their active involvement in various agricultural activities. Keeping these points in mind, this study was designed to explore the extent of women’s participation in various agricultural activities in district Bahawalpur (Southern Punjab, Pakistan). A total of 125 rural women were selected through multistage random sampling technique and interviewed with a well-designed, pre-tested interview schedule, and the data was analyzed using SPSS. The results of the data analysis revealed that rural women’s participation level was at the top (M=2.87 and SD=0.42) in picking of cotton while their participation level was found low (M=1.78 and SD=0.88) in broadcasting of seed/fertilizer among different crop production and management related activities. While on the other hand their extent of participation was found at the top (M=2.90 and SD=0.30) in cleaning of animal’s sheds and found low (M=2.02 and SD=0.83) in calf rearing among different livestock production and management which were being performed by rural women. Regarding daily time given by rural women to perform various crop production, livestock production and household activities majority of rural women they devote>than 8 hours in a day to perform these activities as reported by 27.2%, 32.8% and 76.8% of the respondents, respectively. It is recommended that national commission should be established to recognize and documented the participation of rural women at various national and international forums. It is also recommended that women training wing should be established at national level under the supervision of district administration to train rural women in different areas of crop and livestock production so that they can contribute in a better way in the national economy.