In Jharkhand, storing grains after the harvest is the task of women. If the grains are not stored properly, spoilage of grains can lead to economic loss. What are the barriers and limitations the women face that can be overcome to reduce the spoilage of the stored grains?
Agriculture extension educators from Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha collaborated to find out.
From available literature, they identified nine factors that impact grain storage. Then they created an interview schedule and checked with non-sample farm women for clarity and local understanding.
For their field study, the researchers randomly selected two blocks in the Deoghar district of Jharkhand. Using the lottery method they selected two panchayats from each block and two villages from each panchayat. From each of eight villages, the researchers randomly selected fifteen women who were directly involved in post-harvest grain management. Thus, they interviewed a hundred and twenty farm women, and observed and documented the current, real-life conditions under which these women handle grains after harvest.
Instead of asking the women to say what was their biggest problem, the researchers asked them to rank a selected set of constraints from most severe to least severe.
People tend to rank things in different orders. So the researchers used Garrett’s technique, which converts the rank given by each person into a score on a 100-point scale. In this scale, a first-place rank gets a very high score near 100, while a last-place rank gets a very low score near zero.
Once all the individual ranks were converted into these numerical scores, the researchers added up all the points for each item and calculated the mean score. The items were then arranged from the highest average score to the lowest. The item with the highest overall score became the top-ranked constraint, representing the most severe problem according to the entire group. Thus, the researchers could easily identify which issues need the most attention without relying on guesswork.
The biggest constraint, they found, was lack of knowledge about the management of storage insects and pests. This was closely followed by a lack of knowledge about optimum grain moisture levels and storage temperature to reduce chances of spoilage. Lack of post-harvest management training specifically targeted at women was another critical hurdle.
Training on identifying infestations, the use of safe control methods, guidance on optimum levels of temperature and moisture conditions as well as the post-harvest management of grains could easily reduce these critical constraints.
Lack of reach of women to government schemes along with poor access to local institutional support and extension services was the next constraint identified by the women.
Low chances for women to participate in extension programmes, lack of user-friendly processing equipment and inappropriate grain storage systems were the other constraints in the list.
Reliance on traditional mud bins and woven baskets that fail to keep out pests and moisture, ranked as another problem. Women lacked awareness about government schemes that subsidize modern equipment like hermetic bags or metal bins.
Financial and credit restrictions made it difficult for the women to independently purchase improved tools or treatments, while a lack of decision-making autonomy within the family meant male members held authority over capital purchases.
Finally, time scarcity and heavy workloads also created a burden. Women had to balance the labour of manual grain processing with their daily domestic chores.
Now that the problems are identified and prioritised, on the basis of the perception of the women in Jharkhand, solutions need to be found.
The findings of this research on the women from eight villages in Jharkhand can easily be extrapolated to most other parts of India. Though women are the main workforce in agriculture in India, since land ownership is skewed towards men, agriculture extension services are also more oriented to males. Moreover, in agriculture extension services, women are severely underrepresented. A major reorganisation and reorientation of extension services through policy initiatives is warranted to improve agricultural outcomes in India.
Indian Journal of Extension Education, 62, (4): 279-283 (2026);
DOI: 10.48165/IJEE.2026.624RN04
Reported by Gita Madhu
Freelance writer, Goa
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