AN EXPLORATION OF THE GENDERED EFFECTS OF MECHANICAL MUNGBEAN HARVESTING IN PAKISTAN

Abstract

Agricultural mechanization is important to increase farm incomes
through greater farm labour productivity, but could also have adverse
social consequences, for instance, by marginalizing the role of women
in agriculture. The study aims to gain better indulgent of how
mechanization of the smallholder farming affects the role of and
benefits for women from agricultural work using case of mungbean in
Pakistan. Mungbean is an important summer pulse in Pakistan, but
average yield is very low at about 1 t/ha. Mungbean production is
partially mechanized in all parts of the country, but harvesting and
weeding are done using manual labour, most of it provided by women.
Primary data come from interviews with 106 persons in two villages;
one in which mechanical harvesting had been adopted and one
comparable village where it had not been introduced. The data
collection methods were mostly qualitative. The results indicate that
men and women perceived mechanization of mungbean harvesting
largely as positive as it reduces the burden of work on women and
reduces health risk from the field work.