Mainstreaming Gender in India's Climate-Smart Agriculture Policy

Jul 30, 2019 | Mikhila Menon
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India needs to adopt a climate-smart agriculture policy that includes a ‘gender lens’. Since most Indian agriculture is rain-fed, the intensifying effects of climate change — changing rainfall patterns, drought, flooding and the geographical redistribution of pests and diseases — are impacting agricultural productivity and rural livelihoods in India. At the same time, the migration of men from rural areas and an increase in the number of small and marginal holdings operated by female farmers means that the adverse effects of climate change on agriculture will disproportionately impact women.