India’s Natural Farming Policies Risk Perpetuating Gender Bias, Burdening Women in Agriculture

Launched in 2025, India’s National Mission on Natural Farming represents a policy shift away from Green Revolution-era chemical inputs. The Mission focuses on agroecological practices which include prioritising soil regeneration, nutrient balance, and farmer-to-farmer knowledge exchange.

Agroecology is widely positioned as a feminist intervention—one that recognises women as knowledge holders, and centres seed and food sovereignty. However, the operational guidelines of the Mission do not include the word ‘gender’ at all. The Mission’s village-level implementation rests on Krishi Sakhis (women para-extension workers) who must work on “mobilising and registering willing farmers, demonstration, preparation in on-farm inputs and training of potential natural farmers, field visits to handhold farmers adopting natural farming, conducting crop cutting experiments, and coordinate training of natural farmers at Krishi Vigyan Kendras and agricultural universities.”’ However, their remuneration is capped; linked to the activities they conduct, rather than a fixed honorarium. This structure risks adding to women’s already considerable burden in rural economies, which involves working for between 15-16 hours a day, the authors note. Further, natural farming practices are more labour-intensive than low-input farming. This additional labour falls disproportionately on women, a majority of whom are already classified as unpaid or as helpers in household enterprises. 

Despite depending on the women’s knowledge and labour to function, the Mission provides neither formal recognition nor adequate compensation to them, thereby reinforcing existing structural inequalities.