New Delhi, March 8, 2023: On International Women’s Day, leading FMCG conglomerate DS Group launched an initiative aimed at highlighting the contribution of female farmers in agriculture and bringing them due recognition for their contribution to the agriculture sector in the coutnry.
The initiative named #SaluteTheFarmHER, began with the release of a video which brought a message on the existing perception with regard to the gender of workforce engaged in farming activities in the country. The video showcases the gap between reality and the perception as far as the contribution of women workforce in the overall agricultural activities in India. The campaign is conceptualised by DS Group’s marketing agency Grapes.
The video showed that when kids were asked to draw an image of a farmer, most of them conjured up the image of a male. To change this perception, the Group now intends to approach leading media houses, agricultural bloggers, and stock footage portals to make a small change that is to include images of both male and female farmers while covering relevant news.
Talking about the initiative, a DS Group spokesperson said, “At DS Group, our CSR initiatives are designed on the principles that indigenous knowledge and skills of the local community are important towards sustainable development. We look at a holistic approach to add value, from creating awareness to implementation and ensuring sustainability. In the ‘New India’, rural women are leading the change in the social, economic, and environmental spheres. Empowering them can make way for a substantial leap towards the growth of the economy.”
India is an agrarian economy where about 54.6 percent of the total workforce is engaged in agricultural and allied sector activities. While farming is perceived to be a male activity, agriculture employs about 80 percent of rural women, as per the Niti Ayog.
Speaking on the objective of the campaign, Shradha Agarwal, Co-Founder & CEO, Grapes, said, “Today, when all of us regularly turn to digital for all of our needs, wants, queries and much more, how something is represented in the online space has become all the more critical. The representation of female farmers, however, is severely lacking. And due recognition is quite necessary in order to garner opportunities for equitable growth. So, the #SaluteTheFarmHER is a small step in that direction with the hope of initiating larger change.”
DS Group’s CSR activities includes farm-based livelihood projects, which incubate women cultivators, business owners, and skilled farm labourers. According to the DS Group, it has worked towards improving the lives of 24,000 women farmers in 12 agrarian states till now through its various CSR activities.
