AN ASSESSMENT OF FEMALE PARTICIPATION IN INCOME GENERATING ACTIVITIES IN AGRICULTURE SECTOR IN RURAL AREAS OF DISTRICT SIALKOT - A. Siddique; Z. Batool; S. Anwar; M. Farooq (Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences, 2009)
Pakistan is an agricultural country and agriculture is the mainstay of the economy. Rural women play a vital role in various arenas of life. An ordinary farm woman is the main player to sustain life activities both at home and farm. They have active role in agriculture farming. In addition to their involvement in community development activities and maintaining social relations, they also work in domestic chores by taking care of cooking, cleaning of housing, washing of clothes caring of children/elderly and fetching of water and fuel. Women often spend more time to these tasks than men do. The main objective of the present study is to assess the participation of rural women in income generating activities in agricultural sector. A sample of 200 was selected by using convenient sampling technique in the rural areas of Tehsil Daska, District Sialkot. Two villages were selected randomly from one Union Council. The data were analyzed through convenient sampling technique. Main findings show that majority of the respondents were engaged in vegetable picking, animal caring etc. activities. Results show that majority of the respondents were earning Rs. 1501-2000 per month. A huge majority of the respondents worked outside the home and were satisfied with the working condition over there. It is suggested that rural women should be provided time and energy-saving technology and technical know-how to help ease their workload, especially, in livestock production, gardening, post-harvest activities and food processing.
Keywords: journal article; agriculture community development; convenient sampling technique; gardening; post harvest activities