Narrative
Bina Agarwal’s research led an international organisation and several NGOs to introduce an unusual institutional innovation – group farming – in India and Nepal. As a result:• In Bihar, West Bengal (eastern India) and eastern Nepal, 140 poor farmers formed 20 collectives, which: (1) increased their bargaining power vis-à-vis landlords; (2) improved the efficiency of land and machine use; (3) enabled access to government subsidies; (4) reduced input costs; and (5) enhanced yields and livelihoods.
• In Gujarat (western India), 92 tribal women formed 16 collectives, opening a pathway to greater food security.
Moreover, Agarwal’s research in Kerala (south India), led an extant programme of 68,000 women’s group farms (with 300,000 members) to incorporate more caste-disadvantaged women.
In all regions, the group farming model is continuing and has proved effective in protecting livelihoods and food security during the coronavirus pandemic.
Impact date | 2015 → 2020 |
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Category of impact | Societal impacts, Cultural impacts, Political impacts |
Research Beacons, Institutes and Platforms
- Global Development Institute
Documents & Links
Related content
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Research output
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Does Group farming empower women? Lessons from India's experiments
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A Tale of Two Experiments: Institutional innovations in Women's Group Farming in India
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Rethinking agricultural production collectivities
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Can Group Farms Outperform Individual Family Farms? Empirical Insights from India
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“Food sovereignty, food security and democratic choice: critical contradictions, difficult conciliations”
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review