The feminization of agriculture in developing economies
Across the developing world, the agricultural sector remains the foundation of rural livelihoods, yet it is undergoing significant structural shifts. One of the most notable trends is the feminization of agriculture, a phenomenon where women increasingly assume responsibility for agricultural activities as men migrate to urban centres in search of higher-paying employment. This transformation is particularly evident in Asia, where women account for a substantial proportion of the agricultural labour force. In many developing countries like India, Nepal, and Bangladesh, women produce between 60-80% of the food consumed, yet their contributions often remain underappreciated and undervalued.
Despite their critical role in food production, women in agriculture face numerous obstacles. Land ownership remains skewed in favour of men, significantly limiting women’s access to formal credit and financial services. Further, women farmers are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, which threaten to destabilise agricultural systems across Asia. Rising temperatures, erratic rainfall patterns, and extreme weather events disproportionately affect smallholder farmers—most of whom are women. The confluence of these factors highlights the urgent need for a gender-responsive approach to financing the transition toward Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA), ensuring that women are not left behind as Asia navigates the dual challenges of food security and climate adaptation.
The Indian case study: The need for a gender-responsive just transition
India presents a compelling case study for addressing these challenges. With agriculture employing nearly half of the workforce but contributing only 15% to GDP, the sector’s structural inefficiencies are evident. Moreover, as in much of Asia, the Indian agricultural sector is becoming increasingly feminised: over 75% of rural workers are women, yet less than 12% own land, severely constraining their access to financing and resources.
Compounding these challenges, India’s agricultural sector faces a financing gap of approximately US$ 1.2 trillion for adaptation, with only US$ 4.29 billion currently allocated. This shortfall is particularly acute for women farmers, whose lack of land ownership, limited access to credit and inconsistent digital connectivity makes them especially vulnerable to climate change impacts.
However, India is pioneering several innovative financial mechanisms that can help address these barriers and provide a blueprint for other developing countries.
Recommendations to finance the gender-responsive just transition in India
- Expanding priority sector lending (PSL): The PSL regulation in India mandates that banks allocate 18% of credit to agriculture. Expanding this policy to specifically prioritise women-led CSA initiatives would greatly increase women’s access to much-needed financing. Financial institutions must integrate gender metrics into decision-making, a step critical for ensuring that women farmers can adopt sustainable practices like carbon sequestration and water-efficient irrigation. Such a focus on women-led initiatives could be transformative in enhancing their participation in the climate transition
- Scaling self-help groups (SHGs): India has 12 million SHGs representing around 140 million households and nearly 88% of these groups are led by women. In regions like Odisha and Marathwada, SHGs have provided women with access to credit and technology, enabling them to boost productivity and become agri-entrepreneurs. Moreover, SHGs have facilitated women’s participation in voluntary carbon markets, allowing them to generate income by selling carbon credits from sustainable practices such as agroforestry and soil conservation. These grassroots collectives have proven critical in enhancing women’s financial inclusion and resilience to climate risks
- Leveraging blended finance: Blended finance, which combines concessional finance with private capital, has successfully de-risked investments in CSA technologies for women farmers. For example, the Rann of Kutch Blended Finance Facility, led by YES Bank, helped women salt farmers transition to solar-powered pumps, reducing carbon emissions by 2.7 tonnes per pump annually while improving financial stability. This model demonstrates how innovative financial instruments can bridge the funding gap, making CSA technologies more accessible to women farmers
- Public-private partnerships (PPPs) and sustainability-linked loans (SLLs): PPPs and SLLs provide additional avenues for financing CSA initiatives by aligning financial incentives with gender and sustainability outcomes. PPPs can pool resources from public institutions, private investors, and NGOs to finance large-scale CSA projects, while SLLs incentivize financial institutions to tie interest rates to gender and sustainability performance. This approach not only attracts private capital but also ensures that women farmers benefit from investments in sustainable agricultural practices
Broader lessons for Asia: Adapting to country-specific contexts
India’s experience in financing a gender-responsive transition in agriculture offers valuable insights for the broader Asian context, where similar challenges persist, particularly for women in agriculture. Across countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Indonesia, women are integral to agricultural production, yet they face systemic barriers to accessing finance and technology. While India’s use of PSL, SHGs, blended finance, and PPPs could offer useful reference points, they are not necessarily best-in-class practices for the region. Countries like Vietnam have implemented successful gender-responsive policies, and learning should be multi-directional, with countries exchanging lessons based on their unique strengths and experiences.
For instance, in Bangladesh, initiatives like the UNDP-supported program to build climate-resilient livelihoods for women in coastal communities have demonstrated that targeted financial and technical support can increase household income and food security. However, challenges remain, particularly in scaling such programs to reach more women farmers. An SHG model, which empowers women through community-based financial inclusion, could enhance similar efforts in Bangladesh, providing women farmers access to credit and markets for climate-adaptive technologies.
In Vietnam, the agricultural sector is responsible for a significant share of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. As climate change increasingly threatens smallholder farmers—many of whom are women—Vietnam’s government has recognized the need for robust climate policies. However, barriers such as limited cross-sectoral collaboration and insufficient financing mechanisms persist. By utilising more blended finance models, Vietnam could attract private capital to de-risk investments in Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA), enabling women farmers to access the resources they need to adopt sustainable practices.
Similarly, Indonesia is working to empower women in climate leadership, particularly through grassroots initiatives and solar power projects. However, as in Vietnam, financing remains a challenge. Public-private partnerships and sustainability-linked loans could be instrumental in supporting women farmers and micro-entrepreneurs in Indonesia. Scaling these initiatives would require greater collaboration between financial institutions, NGOs, and the government to ensure women-led enterprises receive the necessary support to thrive in the face of climate change. Indeed, with its Inclusive Closed Loop Model, the Indonesian government has taken encouraging steps in this direction.
Indeed, with the right financial mechanisms, women farmers can play a pivotal role in building climate resilience. By adapting these models and tailoring them to local contexts, other Asian countries can enhance the financial inclusion of women in agriculture, foster climate adaptation, and strengthen regional food security.
References
https://pim.cgiar.org/2021/06/28/feminization-of-agriculture-webinar-2/
https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/women-smallholder-farmers
https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1966154
https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1780263
https://www.impriindia.com/insights/prioritising-climate-finances/
https://rbi.org.in/commonman/english/scripts/Notification.aspx?Id=2321
https://www.context.news/just-transition/women-farmers-shine-as-super-heroes-in-indias-climate-fight
https://swayamshikshanprayog.org/
https://www.un.org/pga/71/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2017/06/YES-BANK-SEWA-Case-Study-Ver-7.pdf