Nagpur: Infamous for agrarian distress and farm suicides, drought-hit Yavatmal stands out for a different reason. As the state govt unleashes a drive to register women farmers, the highest number is from Yavatmal.Of more than 14.39 lakh women farmers applying for official status as ‘mahila shetkari’ in the state, over 1.52 lakh are from Yavatmal. The data has been captured in the dashboard maintained by the state’s agriculture department. Yavatmal is leading the way, but women tilling the fields are not all farm widows, said officials even as activists attribute the high numbers to widows taking over farming after their husbands died by suicide.“This is a misnomer. Women farmers of Yavatmal are not widows, not driven by compulsion, but rather self-made women who took up agriculture or allied activities on their own,” said a senior official overseeing the drive here.Armed with data sourced from the women and child development department, teams are exhorting women to apply and get registered as ‘mahila shetkaris’. There is a general observation that many women are carrying out allied farm activities, including animal husbandry, fisheries to even landless sharecroppers or farm hands, say officials. These women too are being registered as ‘mahila shetkaris’. The idea is to register the women so that schemes otherwise applicable to farmers in general can be extended to them. It’s expected to start with Gopinath Munde accident insurance scheme, which is already available to farmers with land in their name, a source said.Yavatmal is followed by Amravati — another suicide-prone district that clocked 1.02 lakh registered women farmers.Former Maoist stronghold Gadchiroli is also a leading district. So far, 43,000 women farmers have been covered in Gadchiroli. This makes it highest in Nagpur division which covers eastern Vidarbha.“Teams are reaching out to the deepest corner of forested districts reaching out to women,” said Preeti Hirulkar, district superintendent of agriculture officer, Gadchiroli.Officials are briefing women in the local language, Gondi, to strike a chord and it has helped, said a source. Nagpur has over 28,000 women farmers and the least are in Sindhudurg with 12,900, as per govt data.
