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Farmwomen play an important role in production to consumption chain of vegetables but their contribution in its cultivation in general and IPM in particular remains unquantified. The participation of farm woman (N = 108) in vegetable IPM was worked out in ten crops through survey in 54 villages of 6 blocks in two districts of coastal Orissa during 2008. Extent of women participation was quantified on the basis of participation quotient and categorized as nominal, low, moderate and full participation. Results were interpreted as crop specific and activity specific involvement in IPM. On crop basis, women had moderate and on par participation in IPM of leafy vegetables, bhindi and brinjal and full and significantly high participation in kitchen garden. They had low and on par participation in IPM of ridge gourd/parwal, bitter gourd, tomato, bean and chilli. In cabbage IPM, they had nominal role to play. On activity basis, they had insignificant involvement in major IPM works such as pest control decision, pest control tools selection, and its purchase from market and field application. They had low participation in pest identification and residue removal after crop harvest. However, they had moderate and significantly high participation in sanitation works in standing crop, assistance during pest control application in field, sorting of infested parts after harvesting for market and safe seed storage. They had high desire to acquire knowledge on pest management and pesticide; but few of them had option to get pest control knowledge; some of them grew pesticide free vegetable separately and most of them were aware of local methods of residue removal for family consumption. As such, women were engaged only in accessory IPM works due to poor knowledge base. The need for technological empowerment of women has been highlighted in the paper.
