Box 3.1 (Continued) To improve the access of women to agriculture and women’s income, ATMA requires that 30 percent of the farmer representatives on its governing board and the block-level farmer advisory committees be women and that female farmers be included at every level of the ATMA model. It also asks two nonofficial members at the federal level to represent the interests of female farmers. In addition, the ATMA governing board is mandated to encourage agriculture lending institutions to increase the availability of capital to female farmers. How successful was ATMA in meeting these provisions and in mainstreaming gender concerns in agriculture? The National Agricultural Technology Project completion report indicates that 30 percent of the members of the ATMA governing boards and block-level farmer advisory committees in the 28 pilot districts were women. It is not clear to what extent this provision has been met in nonpilot districts. At least in the pilot phase of the program, women’s self-help and farmer interest groups were slow to emerge, mainly because no budget allocations were made for promoting the role of women in agriculture. In response, the extension reform’s agenda dedicates 30 percent of the resources for programs and activities to initiatives that promote the participation of women in agriculture. Similarly, 30 percent of resources for extension workers are supposed to be spent on female functionaries. Assessments of the effectiveness of these provisions are unavailable. However, evidence from the 2008 ISEC-TISS-IFPRI study in Karnataka and Bihar casts doubt on the extent to which funds have been allocated to women-specific purposes in agriculture. Neither the agricultural field staff nor officials of the Department of Agriculture at the district and block level could confirm the existence of a budget component for women. In Karnataka, gender mainstreaming activities appear to be financed largely under the Women Youth Training and Education Program (WYTEP) of the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA). The representation of women in the ATMA governing board differs across districts. Asked for the share of female representatives in the ATMA governing board, block and district officials of the Department of Agriculture in Karnataka report a number that ranges from 0 to 50 percent. Sources: Sulaiman 2003; World Bank 2005; Reddy and Swanson 2006; Singh, Swanson, and Singh 2006; Birner and Anderson 2007; Government of India 2007b; Raabe 2008.
levels. However, although the states decentralized various agricultural functions under the Panchayti Raj Act, the panchayti raj institutions are not part of ATMA’s formal design. Despite efforts to make agricultural extension more pluralistic by encouraging private sector and NGO involvement, the public sector has remained the
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