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From sharecropping to crop-rent: women farmers changing agricultural production relations in rural South Asia

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  • Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt

    (The Australian National University)

  • Mohanraj Adhikari

    (The Australian National University)

Abstract

This paper explores changing production relations in agriculture in context of increasingly widespread and longer-duration male outmigration, as against previous, short-duration and seasonal migration. It investigates how de facto women-heads of households (WHHs) are changing a resilient crop-sharing system in absence of adequate access to productive assets, formal training or experience in farming, and while contributing labour to farming and coping with gendered demands on their time. Based on qualitative inquiry in one of the poorest parts of South Asia, the Eastern Gangetic Plains, the paper shows that a section of WHHs are replacing sharecropping arrangements with fixed-value rental arrangements that resemble commercial contracts. The paper ends with a discussion on the implications of this emerging development.

Suggested Citation

  • Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt & Mohanraj Adhikari, 2016. "From sharecropping to crop-rent: women farmers changing agricultural production relations in rural South Asia," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 33(4), pages 997-1010, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:33:y:2016:i:4:d:10.1007_s10460-015-9666-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-015-9666-z
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Nira Ramachandran, 2006. "Women and Food Security in South Asia: Current Issues and Emerging Concerns," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-131, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
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    4. Amita Shah, 2012. "Priority Changes for Strengthening Women's Role as Producers, Processors and Providers of Food and Nutrition," IDS Bulletin, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 43, pages 40-48, July.
    5. Nitya Rao, 2012. "Male ‘Providers’ and Female ‘Housewives’: A Gendered Co-performance in Rural North India," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 43(5), pages 1025-1048, September.
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    8. Reddy, D. Narasimha & Mishra, Srijit (ed.), 2009. "Agrarian Crisis in India," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195695953.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Aryal, Jeetendra Prakash & Rahut, Dil Bahadur & Gartaula, Hom Nath, 2022. "Gendered Analysis of Food Security Gaps in Rural Nepal," ADBI Working Papers 1279, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    3. Bhawana, KC & Race, Digby, 2020. "Women’s approach to farming in the context of feminization of agriculture: A case study from the middle hills of Nepal," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 20(C).
    4. Matthys, Marie-Luise & Acharya, Sushant & Khatri, Sanjaya, 2021. "“Before cardamom, we used to face hardship”: Analyzing agricultural commercialization effects in Nepal through a local concept of the Good Life," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    5. Kaitlyn Spangler & Maria Elisa Christie, 2020. "Renegotiating gender roles and cultivation practices in the Nepali mid-hills: unpacking the feminization of agriculture," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(2), pages 415-432, June.
    6. Li Zhang, 2020. "From left behind to leader: gender, agency, and food sovereignty in China," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(4), pages 1111-1123, December.

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