Maharashtra launches online portal for women farmer certificates
Women Farmer Empowerment Act, in force since July 22, lets eligible women apply online for official recognition as farmers.
In a significant development from Yavatmal, women farmers will now find it easier to access government schemes, agricultural loans, insurance, farm inputs and various welfare programmes, after the Maharashtra government implemented the Women Farmer Empowerment Act on July 22. The law provides for three things: granting recognition to women farmers, issuing them certificates, and creating an authorised database of them.
Under the same law, an online portal has now been made available for the women farmer certificate. Any eligible woman farmer can apply online for the certificate by visiting the agriculture department's official website. Notably, a woman will not be considered a farmer merely on the basis of land ownership; instead, her actual participation in farming and related work will be taken into account.
The law defines "farmer" broadly. It includes activities such as crop cultivation, seed production, animal husbandry, poultry farming, dairy business, beekeeping, fisheries, sericulture, fruit and flower cultivation, mushroom cultivation, agro-forestry and composting. It also covers women who farm on contract or on a sharecropping basis, landless farmers, landless livestock keepers, farm labourers, nursery workers and those engaged in grazing livestock.
Any woman aged 18 or above who lives within a gram panchayat or nagar panchayat area and is engaged in farming work will be considered eligible for the certificate. After an online application is submitted, it will be taken up at the next regular gram sabha or at a special gram sabha convened for the purpose.
Once a woman farmer is recognised by the gram sabha, designated officials must issue the certificate within 15 days, as provided under the law. Applications from nagar panchayat areas will be taken up and decided at the next general body meeting, and the certificate will likewise be issued within 15 days of recognition. As part of the agriculture department's Seva Sankalp campaign, from September 17 to October 17 special emphasis is being placed on implementing the law by identifying eligible women farmers, encouraging them to apply for certificates, and conducting training and awareness programmes for them.
District Superintending Agriculture Officer Manojkumar Dhage said all eligible women farmers in the state should visit the agriculture department's official website to apply online for the women farmer certificate and avail the benefits of the scheme.
