Empowered by solar tech: women farmers in K-P thrive with innovation

Women constitute a majority of the workforce in agriculture and play a significant role worldwide in crop production. But their contribution largely remains invisible thus their involvement in agricultural policies and programs continues to be overlooked. This invisibility of women affects their access to new agriculture and irrigation technologies as mechanical work and technologies are often considered men’s domain whereas women do all the manual labor in the crop production process.

Pakistan remains a deeply patriarchal society that upholds the traditional gender roles of men as the breadwinner and women as the housewife with all responsibilities of family care. Women are in a subordinate position across all regions and classes in Pakistan. Their occupational roles are confined by the culture of parda and honor. Both notions restrict their mobility outside the house. As a result, men often benefit disproportionately more than females in any development intervention. The Global Gender Gap Index which reflects the gender disparity in the country ranks Pakistan 145 out of 146 countries globally.

Pakistan Bureau of Statistics reported that women constitute almost 50% of the population but their employment to population ratio is 19.5% as compared to men which is 64.1% . Despite the restrictions on women’s mobility, surveys reveal important figures about women’s productive role in the agriculture sector. In 2020-2021, the total labor force engaged in agriculture was 37.4%. Among this agricultural labor force, 67.9% are women. However, these figures vary across regions. For example, in the Khyber Pakhtun Khaw province19.3% of men and 11.6% of women are engaged in agriculture.

In rural K-P, especially in the Gomal Zam Dam command area located in Dera Ismail Khan and Tank districts, there are strong customs of appropriate behavior for men and women, with women’s work and mobility being restricted to the domestic arena. There are strong formal and informal norms that restrict women from participating in public arenas, especially with men, who are not members of their immediate family. Female participation is shunned outside of domestic space and activities/chores.

International Water Management Institute, under USAID funded activity Water Management for Enhanced Productivity (WMfEP) is working with farmers in the Gomal Zam Dam command area. Gender analysis conducted in the district D.I.Khan and Tank confirms that typical gender norms prevail in the area; both women and men work in the field with men taking up the responsibility of mechanical work whereas women do labor intensive manual work. This depicts the gender stereotypes in agriculture that hold back women farmers from learning new skills and using new technologies.

Women empowerment in agriculture needs access to new agriculture and irrigation technologies and recognising and monetising of their work. To counter the social norms, IWMI introduced solar powered micro drip irrigation technology to women farmers instead of following the established practice of introducing it to men farmers. Going against the wind was a risk. Would the women show interest in adopting a new technology, would they be able to manage the technology, and would there be a social backlash because of this intentional targeting of women farmers? However, we decided to take this risk, as it would potentially open up new opportunities for women farmers to access new water and agriculture technologies, if successful.

Initially, solar powered micro drip irrigation technology was provided to 10 women farmers of D.I.Khan and Tank, who were already growing vegetables on a small scale. Witnessing the success of the system, and its efficiency not only in water use but less use of fertilizers and less labor involved, more farmers showed interest in the technology adpotation. Thus,12 more systems were provided to women in 2022. The IWMI team remained in touch with the beneficiary women and provided them with technical support whenever needed. Women were also trained in the repair and maintenance of the systems. Training on vegetable production was also organized for these women to improve their agronomic practices.

The introduction of a micro drip irrigation system to women farmers proved a successful intervention. Women ran the system effectively and got good vegetable production from their home gardens. One of the beneficiaries Kulsoom Bibi of district Tank mentioned with excitement that she got good production of garlic, okra, tomatoes, green chilies, and spinach. She saved the money and she will install a water pipe from the nearby canal to her home to get easy access to water for her vegetable garden and her livestock. Similarly, Farzana Bibi, district Tank said, she has not purchased vegetables this season as produce for her garden was sufficient for her family and to share with the extended family. This saved the money that she spent on school books for her children.

A simple intervention of introducing new technology to women, supporting women's participation in training allows for social impact. First and foremost, the women reported feeling confident and important. Families of the beneficiary women and the surrounding community are increasingly accepting the role of women farmers, and understanding that women are as capable of doing mechanical work as men do. This intervention has an impact on the socio-economic life of rural communities.

But at its heart, these interventions are not just about enhancing women's skills in agriculture technologies and increasing production. This is essentially a step towards intentionally transforming gender norms in situations where such interventions are hard to undertake. Enabling women to realize that they can handle new technologies and increase their income – has allowed men to also acknowledge these issues. Small, but important steps have been taken, for example, in breaking the social norms on women’s restricted mobility, by allowing them to travel safely in groups, to the city for attending training programs. This is how gender responsive technological interventions in water and agriculture can lead to transformative change towards more inclusive, gender equal society – in situations and contexts, where acting directly on unequal gender relations is challenging.

Khadija Begum is a Gender and Youth Specialist working at IWMI Pakistan. All facts and information are the sole responsibility of the autho