Asia and the Pacific Regional High-level Consultation on Gender, Food Security and Nutrition: Ensuring the other

half equal opportunities Bangkok, Thailand, 24-26 July 2013

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My name is P. Suria Rajini, Executive Director of SAHANIVASA an NGO promoted a social movement of agriculture workers, small & marginal farmers in India, called APVVU having membership of 578500. APVVU is one of the key organizations involved in promotion and strengthening of Coalition of Agriculture Workers International working for the socio, economic, political & human Rights of agriculture workers from class, caste, gender and environment perspective. Being a member of CAWI, APVVU has been involved extensively in release of bonded labour, working for the minimum & equal wages of agricultural workers, campaign and lobby for the implementation of land reforms, specially land distribution to landless women -get access to land, sustainable agriculture& livelihood resources. Although, agriculture workers comprises 65% of the total informal labour force in India, majority of them sleep everyday with hunger, not having access to basic amenities, shelter, sanitation, electricity, access to health and social services. Majority of agriculture workers in India are drawn from Dalit community ( ex untouchable) still face discrimination in public places and at work. Women among these workers face triple exploitation caste, class and also gender. Although, women contribute to 62% of the agricultural operations, they do not own the land. As agriculture workers, women are paid low wages than men workers for the same work. Women agriculture workers are the victims of climate change related issues because it affects their income levels. Due failure of monsoon rains, recurring of drought, crop failures, floods and other natural calamities affects the agricultural operations and also the food productions. It is in this context, women are the victims and the loose the employment. Women agriculture workers in the field also face the sexual abuse and exploitation by the big landlords. The traditional cultural taboos did not allow to women to eat food along with men. As a result, most often women sleep with hunger as they sacrifice food for men in the family. It is in this context, SAHANIVASA in collaboration with APVVU strengthened the unity of agriculture workers, share croppers, small & marginal farmers together work for their socio economic Rights .As a social movement and also trade union, APVVU engage to organise the agriculture workers as unions as they are unorganized and also informal workers. They engage for implementation of land reforms and distribute the lands in the name of women agriculture workers considering them as poorest of the poor. So far APVVU has approximately distributed 192,000 acres of land of which 86% is distributed to women priority wise landless dalit women, Adivasi women, landless women of backward castes. Women were also to mobilise the state housing program as their Right. So, all these landless poor low income women become land owners means from the status of untouchable hungry women to promoted as a farmer . The land ownership for agriculture and housing fro m Government open them opportunities to access to the state welfare and development programs on land and agriculture.. As a result, SAHANIVASA has been engaging all the women who got land to take up bio diversity based ecological agriculture, assisting them to promote seed banks and grain banks and produce the food for their own families. The women who eat in the last has started eating on par with men equally as they become owners of the lands and owners of the house. The seed banks assist them to procure collectively drought resilient seeds of food grains, vegetables, greens which they grow in their lands and also backyard of their house. As new women farmers are trained in sustainable agriculture practices, they prepare the organic manure produced the crops free from chemicals and hazardous pesticides. While the produced food takes care of 6 months of basic food needs, the remaining period, women agricultural workers are able to earn better wages than earlier. All these men and women agriculture workers formed into unions and cooperatives to excise their freedom of associations and also access to resources. As they produce the food collectively and also market the surplus food grains after processing. This way, the agriculture workers wage bargaining capacities are also increased, women are able to get the equal wages, access to the resources, engage in food production and thereby

Asia and the Pacific Regional High-level Consultation on Gender, Food Security and Nutrition: Ensuring the other half equal opportunities Bangkok, Thailand, 24-26 July 2013
collectively engage to assert their Rights against the marginalization using all the available democratic and legal spaces in non violence method. Thanking you P. Suria Rajini Executive Director SAHANIVASA ; 22-977/1, Moruganipalli Road, Chittoor 517001, Andhra Pradesh, INDIA. Dated: 21st July 2013 email: sahanivasa85@gmail.com