India's Women-led Vegetable Cultivation Improves Economic and Environmental Sustainability

Abstract

India's food security is heavily dependent on irrigation, yet large rural areas of irrigated land are threatened by increasing salinity and decreasing ground water resources. Therefore, the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation agreed at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 gives importance to sustainable rural development in developing countries. The plan mandates socio-economic development within the carrying capacity of local ecosystems. One way to increase food productivity is to encourage agriculture-based vegetable cultivation often practiced by women farmers. This paper presents data on the role of tribal women-led organic vegetable farming, which improves the livelihoods of women while enhancing environmental sustainability across India's drylands.

Key Words:

• vegetable farming
• tribal women
• drylands
• poverty
• economy
• India