On October 2, Maharashtra is set to begin issuing the Women Farmers Certificates (WFCs) under the newly enacted Women Farmer’s Empowerment Act 2026. The certificates will formally recognise women engaged in agriculture or allied activities as farmers, even when they do not own the land. The WFC will open doors for lakhs of women who sow, tend, harvest and manage our agri-foods systems, as well as livestock, poultry and fisheries, but are often left out of the formal definition of a farmer. Maharashtra has shown political will and a clear sense of urgency in bringing women farmers’ needs into the spotlight and leading by example. Feminisation of agriculture We have been witnessing feminisation of agriculture for some time now. As men move to non-farm jobs, women have increasingly taken up the role of managing and maintaining the agricultural lands. But this has often meant more responsibility without a corresponding rise in control, assets or decision-making power. Without land titles, they also struggle to access critical resources such as credit, water, technology and extension services, reducing them to labourers in a sector they largely sustain. Nationally, women make up close to 60% of the agricultural workforce as reported by the Periodic Labour Force Survey and shared by the Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Ramnath Thakur recently in Parliament, but they hold less than 15% of land titles. In Maharashtra, 82% of the rural female workforce is engaged in agriculture, yet women hold only about 15.5% of operational farmland. Empowering women…This article was originally published on Mongabay
