Punjab govt urged to allot land to poor women farmers

Link: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=215993

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Saadia Khalid

Islamabad
The representatives of women groups, women’s organizations and human rights activists demanded of the Punjab government to allocate land to poor women farmers as well.

They hailed the decision of the Punjab government regarding allotment of land to landless peasants in Punjab, but stressed that the land should also be allocated to women farmers.

The representing organizations included Awam Dost Foundation-Bhakkar, Pakistan Welfare Society, Layyah, Women’s Organization for Rights and Development-Islamabad (WORD), Women’s Action Forum-Islamabad, Women Worker’s Helpline-Lahore, SYCOP-Muzzaffargarh, Peasant Women’s Society Okara, Nomad Center Islamabad, Mehrgarh Learning Center-Islamabad, Strengthening Participatory Organization-Islamabad (SPO), Potohar Organization for Development Advocacy, Islamabad (PODA) and Aurat Foundation, Islamabad.

The representatives of the organizations said that the government should not only allocate land to women farmers, but also facilitate them in cultivating the land by establishing agriculture support centres at UC level for women so that agriculture inputs especially indigenous seeds, fertilizers and machines such as threshers should be provided to women.

 According to them trainings should be organized through these centres for women peasants to further strengthen their knowledge, encourage organic farming and keep them updated on new techniques. Such progressive reforms in policies and legislation will not only eradicate gender discrimination but will also improve the status of women farmers in our country as key to national food security and nutrition.
The women’s groups and representatives of women farmers have struggled hard for years, through nationwide campaigns, advocating for policy changes based on social and economic justice to demand women’s right to land.

Women have always played a very significant role in the agriculture sector; about 79% of women as compared to 57% men are employed in the agriculture sector (ADB 2000). Their role as producers and providers of food, their contribution to the sustenance and survival of the household and economy is immense, it often goes unnoticed.

Women have always been on the frontline in the fight against hunger and poverty. But their agricultural work is often trivialized and seen as an extension of their domestic work.

Although legally women in Pakistan can own and inherit land but they have little access and control, when it comes to national policies or distribution of resources women is only implicitly mentioned. States can be more food secure by implementing and upholding new policies or laws that give women more secure rights to own or access land in their own right as citizens.