Natural farming promotion in low-input, remote districts: A feminist political ecological analysis

There is a push toward natural, chemical-free farming in India, reflected in the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF). Working to promote on-farm bio-input preparations and agro-ecological practices, the NMNF notably prioritizes working among “traditionally low or no fertilizer input users… generally confined to hilly, tribal, high forestland districts,” ostensibly viewing these areas as more amenable to chemical-free farming. This research examined the social and gendered implications of this policy as it unfolds in two Scheduled Tribe (ST)-dominated, hilly districts in Madhya Pradesh. Building on longer-term qualitative and ethnographic research, we used semi-structured interviews with women and men farmers to address the research questions: what are historically marginalized farmers’ relationships with chemical agriculture, and what are their feelings toward natural, chemical-free production? Our analysis began with the recent rise in chemical weedicide use, which dramatically reduced the need for the feminized labor of manual-weeding labor, a particularly difficult task. We found that in this context, the push for natural farming—particularly the focus on producing on-farm bio inputs—was unattractive to women who were either only first enjoying the fruits of less laborious production or who were marginal farmers that principally relied on labor work. Yet we also highlighted uneven impacts of weedicide adoption on women along the lines of class, and pointed to opportunities natural farming policy has to better address structural conditions that make chemical agriculture attractive to resource-poor women farmers. We conclude with suggestions to make NMNF more gender sensitive and economically just.