Women in Agriculture: How Female Farmers Are Challenging the Status Quo
From the mango orchards in Maharashtra to the guar fields in Rajasthan and coffee plantations in the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh, meet three women farmers who are breaking barriers, transforming their livelihoods, and strengthening their communities.
Each woman who paves a new path for herself isn’t just changing her life—she’s opening doors for others. In India, nearly one out of every two self-employed farmers is a woman, playing a critical role in pre- and post-harvest activities. Yet, despite their significant contributions, women in agriculture face limited access to resources and decision-making power. This often serves as a barrier to fully participating in and benefiting from agricultural supply chains.
Women in Agriculture
To bridge this gap, TechnoServe India is working with over 30,000 smallholder women farmers. We give them training, access to finance, and other resources needed to grow their farms and businesses. Whether working in their fields, leading farmer collectives, or strengthening local economies, these women drive change within their communities. This is not just through big leaps but through their quiet resilience, daily perseverance, and the courage to challenge the status quo.
This International Women’s Day, we celebrate women farmers’ strength and unwavering determination. It is paving the way for a future in which women and men can prosper.
Ajinkya Mahila FPC (All-Women’s FPC), Devgad, Maharashtra
An all-women’s farmer producer company (FPC) in Devgad, Maharashtra, has redefined what’s possible for smallholder farmers in the region. These women, who were once limited to working in the fields, now set prices, make business decisions, and earn profits by working together. Ajinkya Mahila FPC also offers a platform to access better markets and secure fair prices.
With the start of this year’s mango season, we reflect on the incredible milestone Ajinkya Mahila FPC achieved last season. Comprising over 500 women shareholders, this collective grew 12,000 premium-quality Devgad Alphonso mangoes and successfully sold them directly to buyers across India to generate an impressive $8,000 in revenue. For the women in the FPC, this was the first time they earned at such a scale—taking charge of not just cultivation but also sales.
In traditional farming households, men have typically handled sales and price negotiations, while women played supporting roles. This divide is even more pronounced with high-value crops like mangoes, where women rarely enter marketplaces or business discussions. Through this FPC, these women are changing that norm.
Through TechnoServe training in good agricultural practices, they have meticulously cultivated mangoes that meet the highest quality standards of Devgad Alphonso Mangoes, which are known across the country for their sweetness and aroma. TechnoServe also facilitated market connections, helping them build direct relationships with buyers for better prices and faster payments.
With instant payments, doorstep procurement, and a growing network of women farmers joining the FPC, Ajinkya Mahila FPC is setting a powerful precedent. By banding together, these women in agriculture are securing better incomes and opening doors for other women farmers in their community.
Nirma Devi, Guar Farmer, Bikaner, Rajasthan
For years, Nirma Devi, a smallholder farmer in Rajasthan, struggled to sell her guar. Local traders dictated prices, charged steep transportation fees, and often delayed payments. The process was not transparent and was exploitative for Nirma and many other smallholder farmers who depended on local mandis (local markets) to sell their guar.
“Not only were there so many costs for transportation and labor, there would always be delays,” she recalled. Nirma supports a family of seven, so every rupee counts, and any delay can be a severe setback.
Things changed when Nirma became associated with TechnoServe’s Sustainable Guar Initiative (SGI) in 2020. Through the program, she learned more about sustainable agricultural practices and planted a new variant of climate-resilient guar seeds that was higher yielding and drought-resistant—a boon in the desert’s arid conditions. For more than 12,000 farmers like Nirma who are part of the program, guar yields have doubled, boosting their financial security.
She also joined a local FPC and established better market connections. Through the FPC, selling guar became a seamless process for Nirma.
“The FPC does doorstep procurement, provides gunny bags for transportation, and ensures we get fair prices,” she shared. “Some of the money we receive from selling guar is used for deep summer plowing on my farm to improve our soil for the following season.”
The impact was immediate. By selling guar twice to the FPC, she received far better prices than she had ever made when selling directly to the local mandis. With better incomes, smallholder farmers like Nirma have been able to invest more money into their households and farms.
“My family and I purchased an electric chakki (portable flour mill), which cost me $160 (INR 14,000). Earlier, we would have to travel to the local mill, which is very far from my home. Now, I can process wheat, bajra (millet flour), dal (lentils), and rice at home, saving us time and money.”
Recently, she also purchased a cow, which has created a secondary source of income for her family through milk production.
Nirma also attended leadership and financial literacy training, which helped her and other women gain the skills and confidence to make key farming decisions, such as which crops to grow, price negotiations, and managing earnings. This TechnoServe project has always worked with women farmers to bring them to the forefront of income-generating activities. Though women in farming households have handled tasks like sowing, weeding, and harvesting, decisions regarding the sales and cultivation of guar were left to their male counterparts. The program has created opportunities for women farmers to step into leadership roles within their FPCs. In 10 years, the program has supported more than 35,000 women farmers through training, financial literacy, and nutrition initiatives.
Nirma’s quality of life has significantly improved.
“Through the FPC and the trainings I have attended, I am more confident about the decisions I make for my farm and family.”
Today, her dreams are bigger, and she’s inspiring fellow women in agriculture in her community to take an active role in FPCs.
Pardhani Poornamma, Tribal Coffee Farmer, Andhra Pradesh
Growing up with financial constraints, Pardhani Poornamma, a tribal farmer from the Alluri Sitharamaraju (ASR) district in Andhra Pradesh, saw her sisters marry early before they could complete their education. Determined to follow a different path, she pursued a post-graduate degree in 2018 while assisting her father with his coffee plantation. She aspired to become a teacher, but family circumstances put her dreams on hold. In 2021, she took on a more active role in farming—a shift that, over time, became a path to independence.
Her family owns 3.5 acres of land where they cultivate coffee, black pepper, turmeric, and paddy. Farming in the hilly terrain of the Araku region in Andhra Pradesh, however, remains unpredictable. In 2023, a severe storm wreaked havoc on her coffee plantations, slashing two-thirds of their annual coffee revenue. Fortunately, their black pepper crop compensated for the loss, and this encouraged Pardhani to expand its cultivation.
Before joining the FPC, Pardhani had few avenues to sell her produce and struggled with unfair pricing. Farmers often sold fresh coffee cherries or semi-dried parchment at just $0.35- to $0.69 (INR 30-60) without access to processing infrastructure.
TechnoServe offered farmers in the FPC agronomy and post-harvest management training, from picking the right cherries to proper drying techniques and parchment preparation. As a shareholder, Pardhani saw her FPC grow from a single-room operation to one with a processing unit, warehouse, eco-friendly wet mill, drying yard, and cupping lab, creating employment for the tribal women in her community.
For the first time, Pardhani and the other farmers could taste the coffee they grew, package it into parchment, and sell it at a fair price, at par with the market value. While black pepper provides an additional income source, coffee remains their primary crop—one that, with proper processing, yields strong returns and access to premium markets.
TechnoServe has empowered women in agriculture within the tribal farming community to play more active roles in the coffee value chain. Recognizing the competitive potential of their single-origin coffee, they are now tapping into premium markets. Like Pardhani, many have diversified their incomes by selling the spices they grow organically at a premium price.
With the financial literacy and business planning skills gained through the program, women farmers are embracing a more entrepreneurial mindset. Venturing beyond just cultivation, Pardhani learned about different coffee brewing techniques and won first prize in last year’s Women’s Day Brewing Competition. She plans to open a cafe near the Kothapalli Waterfalls, blending her passion for coffee with entrepreneurship. Today, Pardhani is dreaming anew.
Learn more about TechnoServe’s work with women in agriculture.
