Abstract/Summary

This research provides new evidence, derived from the experiences of women in rural Himachal Pradesh in north India, that agroecology has the potential, under certain conditions, to facilitate women's empowerment within their communities. In 2018, the State of Himachal Pradesh in north India launched an initiative to convert all farmers to natural farming, an agroecological approach. The approach sought to address multiple challenges for rural livelihoods, such as high input costs, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation. This study used this transition programme as a case study to qualitatively explore women's perspectives on the advantages and challenges of transitioning to natural farming. Data was collected iteratively from thirty-five villages across five districts in Himachal Pradesh between November 2021 and December 2023. To understand the context, challenges, crops cultivated, and mechanisms employed to engage with farmers and scale out practices, 210 farmers were interviewed, focusing on marginal women farmers. The use of life story interviews, semi-structured interviews, and ethnography enabled a nuanced understanding of their lives, constraints, and how the natural farming transition affected their lives at home and in the community. The case study illustrates how an intentional equity focus on agroecology efforts has the potential to empower women. The research identified mechanisms that create new opportunities for decision-making, income-generating roles, and spaces for community learning, leading to higher levels of autonomy. Training in villages, participation in natural farming groups and networks, visits to conferences and model farms, and leadership roles offered new pathways to women farmers to gain confidence and capabilities. Furthermore, the areas where the mechanisms were inadequate for an empowerment approach were identified. These included the need to build communication agents' capacities in using a farmer-centred approach and participatory methods to foster a culture of enquiry and innovation. In addition, greater support for farmer seed systems is required to facilitate access to Indigenous seeds. The findings represent a valuable empirical case study and make a novel contribution in an emerging area of research that is currently underexplored but essential to delivering agroecology-based empowerment pathways in agriculture for marginal farmers.