Enhancing Rural Livelihoods and Empowering Mid-Hill Women Through Gender-Sensitive Targeted Interventions: A Study Under Farmer FIRST Project in Uttarakhand

In the challenging agro-ecological landscape of Uttarakhand’s mid-hills, empowering rural women is essential for inclusive agricultural development and livelihood security. Despite their critical role in agriculture and household management, women face persistent challenges in these regions such as difficult terrain, fragmented landholdings, and limited access to infrastructure. This study, conducted under ICAR’s Farmer FIRST Programme, evaluated the effects of gender-sensitive, context-specific interventions on 150 randomly selected women farmers across four project villages in the Bhimtal block of Nainital district under mid-hills region. The interventions included exposure visits and training in improved crop production, livestock and poultry management, fodder cultivation, and post-harvest technologies. The study investigated the impact of targeted interventions aimed at enhancing the socio-economic status and decision-making capabilities of farm women in the villages adopted under the project. Empowerment was operationalized and quantitatively assessed across three dimensions – i.e., economic, social, and political; and the study assessed the changes in women’s empowerment across three dimensions. The results demonstrated a significant improvement, with more than 70% of women showing increased levels of empowerment after the targeted interventions. These outcomes highlight the transformative potential of participatory and gender-responsive models in addressing structural barriers. The study recommends wider replication and scaling up of such initiatives to ensure sustainable agricultural development and equitable growth, particularly in vulnerable and resource-constrained hill regions like Uttarakhand.