Lauding role of National Cooperative Union of India in empowering women, Union Minister Radha Mohan Singh quoted a study by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) which found women contributing majorly in agriculture and related works.
Appreciating agencies like NCUI, KVKs and others Singh said that “Under the National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI), 38.78 lakh women have been trained in the last two years.” Training by various agencies are showing results, he said.
A recently conducted ICAR study found that the participation of women is 75% in the production of major crops, 79% in horticulture, 51% in post-harvest work and 95% in animal husbandry and fisheries, noted the Minister with a sense of satisfaction while speaking on the occasion of Mahila Kisan Diwas on Monday. In addition to agriculture, women have been making exceptional contribution in horticulture, fisheries, animal husbandry, beekeeping etc, he stated.
“The government has allocated more than 30% funds for women under various major schemes, programs and development related activities in order to bring women in the agriculture mainstream”, he underlined.
He further said that a National Gender Resource Centre in Agriculture, set up in the Department of Agriculture Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, has developed a women sensitization module to bring about change in the mindset and behaviour of male program operators.
In 2017-18, Ministry’s programs like MANAGE, EEI, SAMETI and other institutions have trained 5645 people 
through 222 programmes. Besides, more than 98.14 lakh women farmers have been trained so far under the ATMA scheme, said Singh.
Shri Singh said that special importance is being given to the role of women in achieving the goal of doubling farmers’ income by 2022. Keeping this in mind, the inter-ministerial committee formed under the chairmanship of Dr Dalwai has written a separate chapter on the empowerment of women to double the income of farmers.
These efforts will certainly prove to be effective in enhancing the participation of women in agriculture. The Central Institute for Women in Agriculture, Bhubaneswar (Odisha), set up under the ICAR, has also been working in this direction, Singh said.
The Minister stated that cooperative education programs of women are organized through State Cooperative Societies to ensure women’s’ participation in various activities in the field of cooperatives.
