I am now accessing as a :

Government Of Assam Panchayat & Rural Development Assam State Rural Livelihood Mission (ASRLM)

Mahila Kisan Shasaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP)

Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojna

(“Empowering women in Agriculture”)

Rural women form the most productive work force in the economy of majority of the developing nations including India. More than 80% of rural women are engaged in agriculture activities for their livelihoods. About 20 percent of farm livelihoods are female headed due to widowhood and desertion or male migration. Agriculture support system in India strengthens the exclusion of women from their entitlements as agriculture workers and cultivators. Most of the women-headed households are not able to access extension services, farmers support institutions and production assets like seed, water, credit, subsidy etc. As agriculture worker women are paid lower wage than men.

Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojna (MKSP)- A way towards empowering women farmers

To improve the present status of women in agriculture, and to enhance the opportunities for her empowerment, Government of India has announced “Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojna (MKSP) as a subcomponent of National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM). MKSP strives to improve the present status of women in agriculture, and to enhance the opportunities for her empowerment.

Assam State Rural Livelihoods Mission proposes to cover 12500 women SHG members under MKSP project in five blocks, namely Ujjani majuli (Majuli), Kushdhowa( Goalpara), Borkhetri (Nalbari), Paka-Betbari (Barpeta) and Lumbajong (Karbi Anglong) within three financial i.e. FY-2016-17 to 2018-19.

The primary objective of the MKSP is to empower women in agriculture by strengthening community institutions of the poor women farmers and leverage their strength to promote sustainable agriculture

Objectives:

  • To create sustainable agricultural livelihoods opportunities for women in agriculture
  • To enhance the participation of women in agriculture in productive manner
  • To enhance the managerial capacities of women in agriculture for better management of bio-diversity
  • To improve the skills and capabilities of women in agriculture to support farm and non-farm-based activities.
  • To enable women to have better access to inputs and services of the government and other agencies
  • To improve the capacities of women in agriculture to access the resources of other institutions and schemes with a convergence framework.

MKSP Frame work

The project aims at improving the capacities of women in agriculture to access the resources of other institutions and schemes within a convergence framework.

 The details of the Framework and its Scope includes the following activities 

  1. Detail Project Report Preparation for proposed MKSP adhering to the MKSP guideline
  2. Technical Protocol documentation.
  3. Value Chain study on selected commodities.
  4. Institution building:
    1. Producer group formation
    2. Awareness on MKSP, enrolment under MKSP, Mobilisation
  5. Capacity Building of the Mahila Kisan/ Producers Group etc for implementing the project.
 
 

Building Strong Community Institution and Capacity Building 

Mobilizing the women farmers, facilitating them with demonstrations of sustainable agriculture technologies and providing continuous handholding support  to  Mahila Kisan   during critical stages of intervention  are the basic essence of the MKSP project.  Eventually women emerge as best practitioners and trainers after abundant amount of capacity building rounds and practical sessions. The various aspects of  sustainable agriculture practices which are covered during the capacity building sessions are summarized as follows

  • Low cost sustainable practice such as NPM/IPM/ Integrated Nutrient Management
  • Mitigation of risk of exposure to hazardous farm practices
  • Soil health improvement
  • Soil & water conservation and ground water recharging
  • Bio-diversity enhancement-Poly cropping , multilayer farming etc
  • Use of indigenous knowledge
  • Resource Management
  • Suitability of technology to local agro-ecology
  • Resilience to climate change Integrated Natural Framing
  • Drudgery reduction for women farmers
  • Focus on landless, small and marginal farmers as project participants