Farming has emerged as a pivotal livelihood for women in India, especially in the Koraput district. This report highlights the significant efforts undertaken by the Indian government, in collaboration with the Department of Science and Technology and MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, to empower women in agriculture.

As the summer heat intensifies, water shortages are beginning to surface in the capital city of Chennai. The looming water crisis in metropolitan cities like Chennai and Bengaluru dominates headlines, causing concern for everyone. Yet, we often overlook the water problem faced by tribal communities residing in hilly areas, which remains largely unnoticed.

Sunitha, her husband Ramesh, their three children and their elderly mother, a family of six, live in a makeshift shed. Nearby you can see a concrete house sunken into the ground. The house was the result of decades of hard work of Ramesh and Sunita, a fishing family.

There are oak trees on both sides of that narrow dirt road. It was the time when the heat started to peak. In the distance, salt was piled up like a hill in the salt flats. All along the way women gathered in small groups for drinking water in iron carts with colored jugs.

The second story is about the community seed bank system in practice in Kolli hills, Namakkal. These seed banks are predominantly run and maintained by tribal women farmers of Kollimalai. Altogether they have conserved and sustained around 20 varieties of traditional millets, native to Kolli hills. 

From upscale hotels to the esteemed menu of the White House, Mandia (millets), the traditional food of Odisha, has emerged as a new trend in the food industry. Beyond merely preserving the rich culinary heritage of the state, this culinary movement has also paved the way for financial independence for numerous rural women. The Department of Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment, in collaboration with the hotel industry, has taken the initiative to include Mandia in their offerings for both domestic and foreign tourists

After Kerala reintroduced millet cultivation among the indigenous communities of Attapadi taluk, the villagers enjoy better health and livelihood despite losing crops to wild animals. Nanghi of Neelakuzhi hamlet, and the other farmers of her village in Attapadi taluk, are hoping for a bumper harvest of millets this year.

This story is about the tribal women farmers from Aalaththoor Village, Kollimalai. Aalaththoor is well known for millets cultivation among the tribal villages in Kollimalai. Aalaththoor Tribal farmers cultivate wide varieties of millets through rain fed irrigation and women had been at the forefront. 

Since 2013 Attapadi Taluk in Palakkkad district has been known as one of the hot spots of infant mortality. Malnutrition and other health related matters of tribal mothers are being blamed. In this context, the Kerala government has begun “Attapadi millet village scheme” in 2017.It has multifaceted goals – improve the health of tribal women and children, ending infant mortality death, ensure livelihood with better price for millet they produce.