Social (Gender) Dynamics in Relation to Changing Rice Based Agricultural Systems in Stress Prone Villages in Eastern Uttar Pradesh,

India
RATIONALE
Rice production is a major source of livelihood in Eastern Uttar Pradesh (EUP), India. Rice is cultivated on 2.95 million hectares during kharif season. Rice is the staple food of nearly 70% of the total population in EUP. For the past 7 years there have been many changes in the rice household economy, which affect technology adoption and vice versa. It is necessary to know if the status of the poor rice farming households have improved due to technological changes. Moreover, we examined whether gender roles have changed due to technological changes introduced in these villages.

Thelma Paris, Abha Singh, and Joyce Luis International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)

OBJECTIVE
The study aims to identify the changes in rice production practices and household livelihood systems in the villages and to suggest interventions and policies to give better lives to farmers.

METHODOLOGY
This study was conducted in two villages, each located in Faizabad and Siddarthnagar districts of EUP (Fig. 1). They represent drought and submergence rice areas, respectively. Changes were examined using data collected in 2001 and 2008 from the same households and replacement households. Formal interviews were conducted by social scientists using pretested structured questionnaires.
Fig. 1. Map of India and Uttar Pradesh indicating the study sites

II. Economic and social changes

RESULTS
I. Changes in rice farming system
Increase in rice yield despite the decrease in area planted: Farm sizes have decreased, about half the area in 2001 in both drought- and submergence-prone areas but yield increase was almost double see Table. The increase in yield was due to the use of improved rice varieties, better irrigation facilities, and labor saving machines.
Comparison of rice production in 2001 and 2008, by stress-prone area. 2001 Drought (n=60) Area planted Yield (t ha-1.) Source of water (%) Canal Tube well Pump Rain Share of cost in production (%) Material input Source of power Labor source 15 11 74 11 10 79 35 14 51 41 31 29 82 17 12 11 78 1 62 35 2 52 1 43 4 0.51 2.25 Submergenc e (n=45) 0.8 1.99 Drought (n=173) 0.24 3.6 2008 Submergence (n=85) 0.27 4.27

Changes in income source. The share of agricultural income to total income in the drought-prone and submergence-prone villages declined, whereas non-agricultural income increased (Fig. 5). Nonagricultural income came from professional jobs paid on a monthly basis and services paid on a daily basis. Remittances from migrants on a seasonal or long-term basis were important sources of non-farm income. The migrants were mostly adult men from rice farming households, leaving women behind to manage farms.

Agricultural 25%
Nonagricultural 59% Agricultural 41%

Nonagricultural 36%

Agricultural 31% Nonagricultural 69%

Nonagricultural 75%

Agricultural 64%

2008 2001 2008 2001 Submergence-prone villages Drought-prone villages Fig. 5. Changes in income sources

Changes in the education of younger members. The Indian society has given equal access to education of boys and girls. Now, schools are being built in rural villages to give free access to education to children of rural villagers. From 2001 to 2008, there was an increase in the proportion of girls attending school (Fig. 6).
100

Male
80 76 60 40 20 12 0 62 57 60

Female

Use of improved rice varieties and diverse cropping patterns. The stress-tolerant rice varieties adopted were Swarna Sub1 (Fig.2) and Kalanamak.3131. Both varieties were improved versions of popular modern varieties. Hence, the development and adoption of these varieties were faster. Aside from the main crops rice, wheat, and maize, peppermint was planted after rice in upland fields with assured irrigation. Labor participation of family and hired male and female workers also changed due to changes in varieties and cropping patterns.

22 7 15

2001
Fig.2. Swarna sub1 is grown in the area

2008

2001

2008

Drought-prone villages Submergence-prone villages Fig. 6. Changing patterns of the education of younger household members

CONCLUSIONS
Technological changes have improved the lives of poor rice farming household members. However, it has brought about different outcomes for men and women. With the adoption of improved rice varieties, particularly the submergence-tolerant varieties, womens drudgery and time in gap filling and replanting have been reduced. With the introduction of reapers and threshers, womens drudgery in harvesting and manual threshing have been eliminated. Women from poor farming households have been freed from this arduous work while women from landless households have to look for other sources of income. In spite of the increase in rice yields, the proportion of share of rice income has declined due to high cost of inputs. However, farming households are able to store enough grains for the season and for the next season. Incomes from non-agricultural work are used for daily expenditures, childrens education, and social and religious obligations, which are important in the Indian way of life. To enhance womens roles as farm managers, efforts have been made to enhance their capacities, involving them in research and development programs led by IRRI in collaboration with NARES. Through participatory varietal selection, men and women farmers feedback are considered in the evaluation of new varieties suited to their stress-prone environments and cultural needs. Understanding these social changes as well as reducing gender disparities in terms of access to assets - e.g., seeds and technical knowledge - will lead to a positive impact on the entire society as well as to an improved targeting of agricultural extension services, training, and technology design. It will also help in the formulation of gender-responsive agricultural policies .

Improvement in irrigation facilities. From 2001 to 2008, villages with submergence-prone farms have improved irrigation facilities. The source of water was mainly pumps in 2001. In 2008 more than half (52%) of the farmers were able to avail of irrigation from the canals. Reduction in labor use. The costs of material inputs and power source have increased while there was a remarkable decrease in labor source. The increase in power source and the decrease in labor source are attributed to the adoption of labor-saving technologies such as tractor, combine (Fig. 2), rotavator, laser leveler, and rice thresher or reaper. The reapers and threshers reduced postharvest grain losses incurred during manual harvesting and threshing (Fig. 3). Womens labor, particularly harvesting and threshing, declined due to the adoption of these machines. The number of draft animals has also declined as tractors were used for land preparation.

Fig. 3. A combine harvester being used in the field

Fig. 4 . Women farmers harvesting and threshing their rice crop