It is deeply disappointing that women’s contribution to our agricultural workforce remains largely invisible in official records and government support systems. A recent report by this daily revealed that despite undertaking extensive agricultural labour, most women are still not officially recognised as farmers. This exclusion persists even though women now outnumber men in agricultural labour nationwide, with Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics’ 2024 Labour Force Survey recording 1.7 crore women in the sector compared to 1.3 crore men. Why, then, are they still denied due recognition?
Our reporter recently visited more than a dozen villages in Nikli upazila of Kishoreganj and found that women shoulder exhausting responsibilities throughout the agricultural cycle, from irrigation and weeding to threshing, drying and grain storage, alongside their household duties. During recent untimely rains and flash floods, they also took on the burden of preserving damaged crops while continuing to manage domestic responsibilities. But because farming is still widely perceived as a male activity, their labour is often treated as an extension of household work rather than recognised as an economic activity. Women are also usually listed as farmers only if they are widowed, divorced, or if no male family member’s national identity card is available. Such exclusion is unacceptable.
The result is that women remain excluded from crucial government support mechanisms. Many are left out of farmer lists, including the Farmers’ Cards, which provide access to agricultural inputs, subsidies and incentives. Women accounted for only 15.05 percent of the 22,061 farmers surveyed across 11 upazilas in 10 districts in the pre-pilot phase of the Farmer’s Card programme. Even among farmers affected by recent crop losses, only a small share of those identified for government assistance were women.
The lack of recognition of women in the agriculture sector reflects long-standing social and institutional barriers that continue to undervalue their work. Wage disparities further expose this reality, with women receiving significantly lower pay for physically demanding labour. Lack of land ownership, limited representation in local agricultural committees and restricted access to financing mechanisms further increase their vulnerability.
This situation must change. Women involved in agricultural work, whether through cultivation, sharecropping, livestock rearing, seed preservation or post-harvest activities, should receive formal recognition as farmers. The government should revive and complete the abandoned digital database initiative to ensure women are properly included in official records and support programmes. Agricultural incentives must be distributed fairly and women should also be represented in local agricultural and disaster response committees. Greater investment in modern farming technologies, childcare support and other rural infrastructure is equally necessary to reduce their burden. Women’s growing contribution to the agricultural sector must no longer remain invisible.
