Status of Women Labour in Agriculture — A Case Study on Commercial Crops in Guntur District

The study has been conducted in the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh state during 2010-11 on 80 women agricultural labourers selected using multi-stage random sampling technique. The women labourers have been found to get maximum employment for 155 days in a year. They could get employment for maximum number of days during harvesting (80 days), followed by weeding and post-harvest (39 days) operations. The maximum unemployment period (108 days) was during summer, which is the off-season for agriculture in the study area. The lack of employment opportunities during off-season compels the women labourers to seek alternative employment sources like MGNREGS activities, flower picking, etc. The seasonal unemployment in agriculture has been found to cause a severe impact on the household income, expenditure, savings and repayment of debt. The women labourers have made following suggestions to overcome the problem of unemployment: (i) The NREGS programme should be implemented properly assuring 100 days of work in a year. And this programme should be provided during agricultural off-season, (ii) The SHG activities should be enlarged and training should be provided for developing entrepreneurial skills, (iii) The existing wage rate in agriculture should be increased and loan should be provided at lower interest rate to purchase livestock and poultry.