More than half of the women working in Indian agriculture are recorded as unpaid helpers on family farms rather than as farmers, according to a new report by Arya.ag. The report, Her Harvest 2026: The Hidden Cost of Women’s Invisible Work in Indian Agriculture, says this gap is limiting women’s access to credit, farm inputs, markets and government support.
The report says 50.5% of women working in agriculture are classified as unpaid helpers, compared with 21.7% of men. The distinction has practical consequences because many agricultural schemes and financial services are linked to formal recognition as a farmer or cultivator.
Agriculture remains the largest source of employment for Indian women.
The report says 64.4% of working women in India are engaged in agriculture. The figure rises to 76.9% among rural working women. Women make up about 48% of the country’s total agricultural workforce.
Despite this large contribution, women’s control over agricultural land remains much lower.
Women operate only 11.72% of India’s farmed area and hold 13.96% of operational farm holdings, according to the report.
This creates a gap between the amount of agricultural work women perform and the resources they control.
Being Called a Helper Can Block Access to Support
The report argues that formal recognition matters because women recorded as unpaid helpers can struggle to access services available to recognised cultivators.
These include institutional credit, agricultural extension services, input subsidies and procurement systems. Without access to these resources, women may continue doing farm work without having the same ability to make investments or participate in markets.
The report says India does not need to wait for land ownership patterns to change before addressing this problem.
It recommends recognising women as farmers regardless of whose name appears on the land deed.
Arya.ag estimates that this resource gap could be costing India between ₹1.2 lakh crore and ₹2 lakh crore in agricultural output each year.
The estimate uses the Food and Agriculture Organization’s assessment that unequal access to productive resources can reduce agricultural output by 2.5–4%. Arya.ag applied that estimate to India’s agricultural gross value added of ₹48.7 lakh crore.
The report also says farms operated by women can be 24% less productive than comparable farms operated by men.
It links this gap to unequal access to credit, inputs and other productive resources rather than differences in farming ability.
Women Also Earn Less From Agriculture
The inequality extends to earnings.
According to the report, women working in agrifood systems earn about ₹82 for every ₹100 earned by men. Women agricultural workers also earn 20–30% less for the same work, the report says.
This means women face gaps at several levels, from recognition and land access to credit, wages and market participation.
Prasanna Rao, Managing Director and CEO of Arya.ag, said women’s contribution to agriculture needs to translate into greater ownership, income and influence.
Report Calls for Four Changes
The report recommends several steps to make women’s agricultural work more visible and productive.
- Recognise women as farmers regardless of land title
- Collect gender-specific data on agricultural credit and procurement
- Improve women’s access to finance, storage and technology
- Strengthen women-led Farmer Producer Organisations
The report also points to warehouse finance and market linkages as ways to give women greater control over their produce without waiting for land ownership to change.
India’s women are already doing a large share of agricultural work. The report’s central concern is that the formal system has not kept pace with that reality.
For women working on family farms, being recognised as a farmer can determine whether they can access credit, government support, technology and organised markets. Closing that gap could affect both women’s incomes and the wider agricultural economy.
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