In Odisha, women farmers are growing climate-resilient crops while fighting inequality

Saraju Nayak is a woman farmer based at Jirabadi village under the Bhanjnagar Block of disaster-prone Ganjam district in Odisha. Her family owns around 10 acres of land in the village on which she and her husband cultivate paddy, vegetables and other crops. Her village, surrounded by three forest ranges, has around 250 households but half of them have members who have migrated to Gujarat to work in the state’s textile industries.

Ganjam district, located along the Bay of Bengal, has seen several cyclones like the Super Cyclone of 1999, Hudhud and Phailin which impacted standing crops, livestock and the farming sector.

It is common for men in Ganjam’s households to pick up work outside the state. Consequently, a large section of women are actively engaged in farming, working through a suite of gender-specific challenges, but the lack of acceptance of these women as farmers is a setback to their financial wellbeing.

However, technological interventions and climate-resilient farming are helping them navigate the barriers to their recognition.

Minimising cyclone impact

Living in this disaster-prone district, Nayak and other women farmers have been attempting to minimise the impact of cyclones on their farms by implementing practices learned in a training from agricultural scientists.

“Around five years ago I received training from…

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