Socioeconomics

Adoption of technology by rural women in a rice-

based agroecosystem
K. Pandey, S.S. Bargali,* and S.S. Kolhe**
Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Anjora, Durg 491001, Chhattisgarh, India
*Department of Forestry, ** Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, Indira
Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur 492006 (CG), India
E-mail: surendrakiran@rediffmail.com

Rice is the main crop cultivated in Durg District of Chhattisgarh State, India
(Bargali et al 2007, 2009a). Grown on 0.37 million ha, this staple drives the
economy in rural areas. In India, women do more than 50% of the farm work
(Bargali et al 2009b), but they are not so keen about new technologies related to
agriculture. To make women workers aware of advanced technologies in a rice-
based agroecosystem and to help them earn more, KVK scientists conducted a
study to determine women farmers’ adoption of technologies. A participatory
rural appraisal (PRA) was done in five villages in Durg (Anjora, Hasda,
Parastarai, Karanja-Bhilai, and Beloudi) from 2000 to 2006. During the PRA
survey, the rural women farmers showed interest in trying different technologies
related to rice—paddy seed treatment, harvesting the crop with a serrated sickle,
safe grain storage, enriching paddy straw for animal feed, and preparing
different rice products.
One hundred women farmers, all decision-makers for the household,
were randomly selected from the five villages. They were categorized on the
basis of landholdings—30 had big (>4 ha) farms, 41 had medium farms (2–4 ha),
and 29 had small farms (1–2 ha). All groups of women farmers attended the
different training programs (Figs. 1 and 2), spending 2–7 d on technology
components. They were given the essential technology inputs. Demonstrations
were set up for five individuals in each category. After 2 years, a field survey
using semistructured interview schedules was conducted (Bargali et al 2007).
Adoption indices (AI = [total number of women farmers who adopted the
technology/total number of women farmers who attended the technology
training)/100]) were calculated following Bargali et al (2007) and the reasons for
adopting/not adopting the technology were obtained. Women farmers with big
farms adopted all five technologies. With AI ranging from 67 to 100, they
reported an increase in rice production with the seed treatment. They claimed
that the use of a serrated sickle shortened their harvesting time and they were
able to store their grains longer. Feeding their animals with enriched paddy

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straw resulted in improved animal health and milk production. Different rice
products became part of their daily diet. The highest AI was observed in the
small women farmer category for safe grain storage (AI = 80); the adoption of
other technologies was less than 40%. Women farmers in the medium category
had adopted all the technologies, with AI values of 29 to 75 (Fig. 1). Bargali et al
(2007, 2009b) also found variations in technology adoption among the women
farmer groups: the adoption rate of small farmers was lower than that of
medium and big farmers due to smaller landholding, limited resources, and
moderate literacy.
Average adoption of technologies was highest among big women farmers
(AI = 83), followed by women farmers in the medium group (AI = 52). Adoption
was low among small women farmers (AI = 38) who had smaller land, meager
resources, and moderate literacy. Depommier et al (2002) noted that the needs
and strategies of small farmers usually correspond to subsistence agriculture
with low inputs. Seed treatment before sowing, harvesting by a serrated sickle,
and preparation of different rice products were maximally adopted by the big
women farmers (78–100%), followed by medium women farmers (50–75%) and
small women farmers (16–36%). Maximum adoption of safe grain storage and
enrichment of paddy straw was also observed among big women farmers (67–
87%), followed by small women farmers (40–80%); the medium women farmers
had the lowest AI with respect to these two technologies (29–50%).

Adoption index
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Enrichment of

adoption
Preparation of
Safe grain
serrated sickle

Average
treatment

Harvesting by

rice products
paddy straw
storage
Seed

Technology components
Small farmers Medium farmers
Big farmers Average adoption of technology

Fig. 1. Technology adoption by different categories of farm women.

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The reasons for adopting the new technologies were given by Bargali et al (2007):
• Most women farmers in the locality use their own seeds under the biasi
system and these have poor germination and quality (Singh and Shrivastava
2004). Their use of healthy seed resulted in better seed germination, better
seed quality, and optimum plant population. The lower seeding rate reduced
the cost of quality seed.
• Women farmers have always used traditional sickles for harvesting because
they are not aware of the advantages of using serrated sickles. These workers
now experience less drudgery with the use of this farm implement. Labor
efficiency increased by 50%.
• Safe grain storage protected grains from insect damage and lengthened
storage time (Pandey et al 2006).
• Women farmers in the area feed rice straw to cattle, but the animals remain
undernourished. Adding 4% urea to rice straw increased the nutritive value
and consequently improved animal health and milk production.
This study suggests that providing information and technical support to
small women farmers would enable them to adopt new technologies.
Demonstrations of improved technologies in their fields could motivate poor
rural women to adopt innovations.

References
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agroforestry system: effect on paddy crop and management. Curr. Sci. 96(4):581-587.
Bargali SS, Pandey K, Singh L, Shrivastava SK. 2009b. Participation of rural women in rice-based
agroecosystems. Int. Rice Res. Notes Vol. 34,
http://irri.org/knowledge/publications/international-rice-research-notes.
Depommier D, Laurent J, Cassou J, Demenois J, Heurtaux A, Grard P. 2002. Multipurpose trees
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Tirupati. p 161-168.
Pandey K, Bargali SS, Shrivastava SK. 2006. Comparative study on low-cost traditional methods
and advanced technology for safe storage of grain seeds. Environ. Ecol. 24S(4):1202-1203.
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Acknowledgment
We thank ICAR for financial support and the referee for valuable suggestions to
improve the manuscript.

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A            B 

Fig. 2. (A) Women farmers watch a demonstration of paddy harvesting (B) using a serrated sickle.

A            B 

Fig. 3. (A) The women farmers add urea to rice straw to (B) improve feed quality.

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