Mechanization And Female Workforce Participation In Agriculture: A District Level Study In Assam

In the early stage technical development in agriculture, the difference in productivity between female and male agricultural workers is roughly proportional to the difference in physical strength of respective workers. With the development of various technologies in agriculture it becomes less dependent on muscular power and as a result of which labour productivity between the two sexes might be expected to narrow. Introduction of modern improved agricultural equipments reduce the need for male muscular strength. Technological change can place in agriculture into two forms HYV technology which includes use of seed, fertilizer and irrigation and mechanical technology. Adoption of technology increases labour demand by helping intensified cultivation. In spite of being an agrarian state the use of machinery in Assam is not impressive as it limits to a few types of machines. Moreover the existing machineries are also not available equally for all activities. Mechanization is applied in a few activities like field preparation, threshing, irrigation etc which are predominantly participated by male agricultural workers. Majority of workers engaged in activities like transplanting, harvesting are female and these kinds of activities are primarily done by using manual power. In this way mechanization is not equally takes place in all agricultural activities. Thus from the analysis of using mechanization in different agricultural activities it is revealed that there is a gender bias regarding use of machinery in agriculture.