Maharashtra introduces Bill to recognise and empower women farmers

Mumbai: In a major Legislative move aimed at transforming the state’s agrarian sector, the Maharashtra government on Wednesday introduced a pioneering draft law titled “The Maharashtra Women Farmers Empowerment Act, 2026” (L.A. BILL No. XLVIII OF 2026).

The Bill, which was presented by the State Agriculture Minister Dattatraya Bharane, addresses long-standing systemic exclusions by providing formal recognition and dedicated welfare funds for female agricultural workers.

For decades, agricultural frameworks have largely remained gender-blind, restricting formal benefits to landholders.

According to the Bill, while women make up a massive percentage of rural labourers who cultivate family or community lands without formal titles, extension systems and credit structures have historically overlooked them.

To rectify this, the Bill introduces the legal issuance of formal “Woman Farmer Certificates”.

The bill expansively updates the term “farmer” to include any woman resident of Maharashtra who, individually or jointly, participates in core cultivation and livestock, including crops, poultry, dairy, fisheries, sericulture, and agro-forestry, in innovation and preservation of diverse seeds, climate-resilient farming, and integrated systems and value addition and processing of raw agricultural or animal products.

Besides, the woman residents as farmers will also include landless labour, operational holders, contractual tenants, landless livestock rearers, plantation labourers, and pastoralists and also women engaged in agricultural work for at least one season per year, regardless of whether they migrate for work.

To back the Legislative promises with financial teeth, the Bill mandates the creation of the Maharashtra State Fund for Women Farmers.

The specialised fund will draw capital from the consolidated fund of the state, grants from the Central government, and miscellaneous public or private donations.

The funds are legally earmarked to finance welfare programmes, extend line-of-credit facilities, build a specialised database, and enhance overall training frameworks targeted exclusively at women farmers.

The Bill also introduces an accountability ecosystem comprising a Women Farmers Empowerment Cell and a State Monitoring Committee.

For local governance and dispute resolution, the Bill charts specific parameters utilising local Gram Sabhas and designated “Appellate Officers” to handle registration and grievances smoothly across scheduled and non-scheduled rural zones.

By issuing identity certifications and tying them directly to state welfare funding, the Maharashtra government seeks to fulfill Directive Principles of State Policy ensuring equitable, gender-sensitive resource allocation.

Earlier, the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that women account for more than 81 per cent of participation in Maharashtra’s agricultural sector.

However, most agricultural policies and government schemes remain male-centric. Since land ownership is often a prerequisite for availing benefits under agricultural schemes, a large number of women farmers are excluded from these benefits.

Women cultivating family or community-owned land, as well as those engaged in allied activities such as fisheries, livestock rearing, poultry farming and collection of forest produce, are often not recognised as farmers. It is against this backdrop that the proposed legislation has been drafted.

Chief Minister Fadnavis directed that a detailed study should be undertaken to establish an effective digital system through which women farmers can access state government loan schemes, agricultural subsidies, seeds, fertilisers, crop insurance, extension services, market facilities, transportation, storage infrastructure and social security schemes.

The Bill should also provide for the creation of an independent digital database of women farmers, he added.

IANS