By Paridhi Narvar
Abstract
Agricultural Waste is the material obtained due to crop production or from plant growth (Lombardi & Todella, 2023). Agricultural waste is both a boon and a bane in modern day India. While it is used for feeding animals, it also generates tons of waste. On the other hand, large scale surveys show that while rural women employment has grown significantly over the decades, most of them are still largely self-employed or employed as casual labor in agriculture (Saadi et al., 2017). They still face various kinds of dis crimination and are still not financially independent (Rughoobur-Seetah et al., 2022). Women's autonomy measured in terms of control over land, mobility, and a willingness to join self-help groups, enables them to move into non-agricultural jobs (Akter & Pratap, 2022). Through this paper, we will be looking at how the integration of women into agricultural waste management processes has the potential to not only create employment opportunities but also improve the overall well-being and livelihoods of rural women in India along with challenges faced to incorporate proper agricultural waste management and ways in which this can be done successfully.
Keywords: agricultural waste, reusing, women, employment, work opportunities
Agricultural waste is one of the most important components of sustainable farming practices. It includes crop residues, livestock waste, and agro-industrial by-products (Mujtaba et al., 2023). According to stud ies, it has been seen that around 350 million tonnes of agricultural waste is generated in the most populat ed country of the world: India (Mayer, 2023). In a country in which more than half of its population is concerned with agriculture, it is alarming to see how much waste they generate from it. Agriculture has contributed significantly to the food, nutrition security of the people , and economic growth of the country, but as much food as it supplies, it generates around two times more of waste, i.e. improper management of agricultural waste generated in the process has been contributing towards mounting air, soil and water pol lution (Manisalidis et al., 2020). Despite its potential, it poses numerous environmental challenges, in cluding stubble burning (Khan et al., 2023). It is a practice where farmers in regions like Punjab, Haryana, and other northern Indian regions burn stubble in their fields after grain harvest. Studies suggest that every year about 84 million tonnes (23.86%) of stubble is burnt on-field immediately after harvest. India's man agement of agricultural waste remains a pressing issue (Shen & Yang, 2020).
While some progress has been made through initiatives to repurpose waste into bioenergy, biogas, and compost, the overall system faces challenges such as the widespread practice of burning crop residues, leading to air pollution and carbon emissions (Kabeyi & Olanrewaju, 2022; Errera et al., 2023; Lelieveld et al., 2015). Logistical hurdles, limited awareness among farmers, and insufficient infrastructure for large scale waste conversion hinder effective management (Jackson, 2017; Hjort et al., 2022; Rastegari et al., 2023). A portion of the wastes is used for composting or incorporation to the crop field and livestock feed (Nordahl et al., 2023; Duncan et al., 2023); however, a sizeable quantity is poorly managed causing harm to the agro-ecosystem (Ranadev et al., 2023). If we reuse agricultural waste in a strategic manner, then we can also transform it into various kinds of useful products such as plates, biogas energy, livestock material, live sculptures etc (Medina et al., 2023).
A patriarchal society, India is a country which has moved forward from its ‘men only’ tag in various fields, be it hospitality, corporate etc. Women are participating in agriculture, business and trade without any so cial and other boundaries. Women in Urban India have now achieved a status equal as men but it is not the same for the women in rural India, there are many social and cultural limitations for rural women. Women in rural India don’t frequently participate in entrepreneurial activities. Though it has been noticed in the past decade that the percentage of women who work in fields has now become 42.3% but still they lack their own financial independence. Due to societal pressure and norms, women in rural India still struggle to stand on their own feet (Roy, Chatterjee, & Gupta, 2018). They are married off at a very early age. Many Indian rural women are condemned to a life of serfdom, anonymity, and facelessness. In rural India, very few women have ownership over land or productive assets. This proves to be a roadblock in institutional credit.
The various challenges faced by women include lack of education, gender discrimination, child marriage, lack of proper sanitisation, societal norms and sexual/metal/emotional/physical abuse (Gauci, Luck, O'Reilly, & Peters, 2023). Here the factor of ‘employment’ enters the image. Employment is important for poverty reduction and to enhance women’s status in rural India (Adenutsi, 2023). Women's employment or even choice of employment is restricted by the lack of mobility across regions and even within the same region. Restrictions on mobility are as much due to the patriarchal norms of social behaviour as due to other extra economic factors, particularly so in the Indian context (Lawrence & Hensly, 2023).Generating employment for women will not only help them uplift their socio-economic status but it will also make them self-reliant (Voumik et al., 2023). Transforming agricultural waste into valuable resources not only addresses environmental concerns but can empower women in rural India by creating sustainable em ployment opportunities that enhance community development and economic independence.
Rural India generates about 0.3 to 0.4 million metric tons of solid waste per day which includes organic waste and recyclables (MNRE, 2015). There are various kinds of wastes that it produces. Rural solid waste primarily consists of Agricultural Residues (or Agro-Residues) and Animal Waste. Various Products can be made through different kinds of agricultural wastes such as disposable plates from corn, bag/handmade paper from jute, organic manure from lac mud, fortified rice analogues from broken rice, or eco friendly construction bricks can also be made. We can also convert it for different uses like we can convert agricultural waste to animal feed, fuel or organic manure as well. Most agricultural waste can be sold out to people for other purposes. There are vegetable farms who will gladly buy the poultry waste so as to use it as manure on their farms. Agricultural waste such as rice bran, corn husk can be used as feed or as fuel in factory.
Women’s labor force participation and access to decent work are important and necessary elements of an inclusive and sustainable development process. Women continue to face many barriers to enter the labor market and to access decent work and disproportionately face a range of multiple challenges relating to access to employment, choice of work, working conditions, employment security, wage parity, discrimination, and balancing the competing burdens of work and family responsibilities (Ibourk & Elouaourti, 2023). In addition, women are heavily represented in the informal economy where their exposure to risk of exploitation is usually greatest and they have the least formal protection (Sher Verick, 2014). . In India, Deshpande and Kabeer (2021) find that detrimental social norms, which reinforce expectations of women being primarily responsible for household chores, lower women’s probability of employment. Another study in Madhya Pradesh finds that men’s perceptions about community norms against FLFP are predictive of their spouse's employment status, suggesting that husbands, and their concern for their own reputa tion, may act as a conduit for social norms to affect women’s labor force participation (Bernhardt et al. 2018).
According to a case study in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, in the year 2000, Exnora Green Cross (supported by UNICEF) initiated a pilot Zero Waste Management (ZWM) project in a ward of Vellore municipality (Wikurendra et al., 2023). The project was piloted in rural areas of Kaniyampadi block under the TSC in 2002 and DRDA provided funds for construction of sheds, purchase of tricycles and tools and ensured the support of local bodies. Interestingly, this initiative was carried on by young girls and women in need of employment. In another case study in Tamil Nadu, MGNREGA workers engaged as Thooimai Kaavalars (Environment Protectors) in solid waste management (SWM) activities. One Thooimai Kaavalar took care of 150 households in selected 9,000 village Panchayats.
There are various challenges that are faced to reuse agricultural waste and to employ women. Waste from the agricultural industry can be beneficially utilised in various agro-based applications and other industrial processing. However, the cost of collection, processing and transportation can be much higher than the revenue from the beneficial use of such waste (S Bhuvaneshwari , 2019). There is a lack of training, lack of accountability and the availability of qualified waste management professionals is limited. The lack of strategic reusing agricultural waste plans, waste collection/segregation and a government finance regulatory framework are major barriers to achieving effective SWM in India (Sunil Kumar, 2017). Also, there are not many policies in which targeted support for women led initiatives are there.
A question that revolves in most of our minds is that why should we employ rural women to reuse agricul tural waste? No one knows the fields and the kind of waste and what all can be done from that waste better than a farmer (Acemoglu & Restrepo, 2018). Men in rural India have always been engaged in both social and economic causes to serve as pillars for their family, for their community and for their nation but what goes unsaid are the efforts made by a woman for herself, her family and for her country. Women in rural India work day and night but still aren’t appreciated enough for their work and sacrifices. Employing them for reusing agricultural waste would uplift their self esteem (Orth & Robins, 2022), would make them fi nancially independent (Rughoobur-Seetah, Hosanoo, & Soupramanien, 2022) and most importantly, women in rural India are known for the extraordinary skills and techniques which make them stand apart from everyone else (González-Pérez & Ramírez-Montoya, 2022), so their skills and innovative ideas can be used to reuse agricultural waste (Tam & Lung, 2022). Women's participation in the workforce can lead to better decision-making and investments in children's education and well-being, fostering a cycle of pos itive social change (Endow & Dutta, 2022).
Employing women for reusing agricultural waste can help India as an economy and as a society to progress forward. Women can form Self-Help Groups or they can be recruited for the production of goods such as disposable plates, handmade paper, sculptures etc, or they can be assigned to collect this agricul tural waste and provide it to users who can regenerate it to form something more valuable. To do this, a few measures can be taken such as policy enhancement (Ancho, 2019) ( policies should be revised to in clude subsidies and incentives for projects that empower women through agricultural waste reuse), In frastructure Investment (Mngumi et al., 2022) (the government and private sector should collaborate to establish processing centres in rural areas to facilitate waste conversion), training and education (expand ing training programs can equip more women with the skills needed for sustainable waste-to-value initia tives) and Marketing Linkages (Baumüller et al., 2023) ( strengthening connections with urban markets and e-commerce platforms can ensure that products created by rural women reach broader audiences).
Integrating technology with traditional craftsmanship can greatly enhance efforts to reuse agricultural waste for generating employment for rural women in India (Allepuz, 2021). By using accessible digital training modules, women can boost productivity while preserving cultural heritage (Karampidis et al., 2023). Producing high-value, niche products such as biodegradable tableware and eco-friendly home decor allows these initiatives to tap into domestic and international markets (Deepthi et al., 2023; Bhoj, 2022). Women-led cooperatives and mentorship programs can foster collective production and shared re sources (Joe et al., 2023; Alarcón et al., 2020), while eco-certification and unique branding that tells arti sans’ stories can add appeal to conscientious consumers (Andersson & Hammarlund, 2023). A circular supply chain involving local farmers, processors, and artisans, supported by business partnerships, can ensure sustainability and economic growth (Meier et al., 2023). Addressing socio-cultural barriers with community child-care facilities, flexible work arrangements, and workshops can shift perceptions of women’s roles, enhancing participation (Sawhney et al., 2023). Leveraging government schemes and advocating for policies that offer incentives to businesses working with women artisans can further support these initiatives (Nushruth & Panakaje, 2023). Innovative marketing strategies that use storytelling, im pact-driven messaging, and social media can expand reach (Choe et al., 2021), while community work shops can spread awareness on waste management (Bokoch et al., 2022). Establishing innovation hubs for collaborative development and implementing systems for measuring environmental impact can provide valuable insights for continuous improvement. This multifaceted approach empowers rural women, sup ports community development, and fosters sustainability through creative and culturally sensitive prac tices.
As a conclusion, I believe reusing agricultural waste presents an opportunity to empower women econom ically while addressing environmental challenges. The integration of women into these activities can sig nificantly contribute to rural economic growth and gender equality. However, scaling such initiatives re quires overcoming barriers related to infrastructure, policy support, and market access. With targeted strategies and collective efforts from stakeholders, the potential for transforming agricultural waste into a source of employment for rural women in India is vast and promising.
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