Economic Empowerment of Farm Women through Income Generating Activities in Karnataka

This paper has provided economic analysis of various income generating activities, such as ornamental fishery, arecanut leaf plate making, arecanut slicing and chipping, vegetable vending, and tailoring in Karnataka. The field data on costs and returns were obtained from the project (NAIP) beneficiaries and data for ornamental fish were obtained from 70 farmers. The study has found that from ornamental fish-rearing, the farm women realized a gross return of 24650 per year incurring a total cost of 15767 and monthly net income of 740 by using their leisure time with minimal expenditure and risk. The gross return realised from areca leaf processing unit was 19.44 lakh and net returns were 11.05 lakh with a benefit-cost ratio of 2.32. The net returns from arecanut slicing were 2971/q and from arecanut chipping were 1800/q. The partial budgeting analysis has indicated that with the change from head-load sales of vegetables to sale using a tricycle, the farm women vendor could realize a net income of 435 per day even after incurring an additional cost of 550/day. The net returns obtained from tailoring were 4691/month with a benefit-cost ratio 2.08. The study has suggested that these income-generating measures could be disseminated in other areas for economic empowerment of women.