India's fields have always had women at their centre — and on Mahila Kisan Diwas (Women Farmer's Day), Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan made that truth the centrepiece of a passionate appeal, paying tribute to the country's women farmers and calling them the 'backbone of India's agricultural system.'

Women as the spine of Indian farming

Posting on X on Thursday, 15 October 2026, Chouhan opened with a declaration that has the ring of a long-standing reality: 'Bharat gaon ke bina adhoora hai, aur gaon kheti ke bina, aur kheti mahilaon ke bina nahin ho sakti' — 'India is incomplete without its villages, villages are incomplete without farming, and farming cannot exist without women.' It is a statement backed by the demographic reality of Indian agriculture, where women constitute a dominant share of field labour, post-harvest work, and household food security management.

The minister emphasised that women's contribution to farming is not a modern concession — it stretches back to time immemorial. What has changed, he argued, is the sheer breadth and technological depth of that role today.

Drone Didis, Krishi Sakhis and the new rural woman

Chouhan catalogued a striking roll-call of emerging roles: 'Drone Didis' who carry out pesticide and fertiliser spraying using drones; 'Krishi Sakhis' who train farmers in modern agricultural practices; 'Bank Sakhis' who facilitate banking linkages for rural households; and 'Pashu Sakhis' who support animal husbandry and milk production at the village level. Each title is more than ceremonial — these are functional roles embedded in government-backed extension frameworks.

Women are also driving the processing of raw farm produce and connecting it to markets. Chouhan specifically highlighted the role of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) — collectivised bodies promoted by the government to enable marketing, value addition, and processing — as a vehicle through which 'Kisan Didis' are making a decisive difference.

Viksit Bharat 2047 and the women-agriculture link

The message was not merely celebratory. Chouhan framed the empowerment of women farmers as structurally essential to the government's flagship long-horizon goal: Viksit Bharat @2047, the vision of a fully developed India by the centenary of independence. His formulation was direct: 'Empowered women farmers will mean a prosperous agriculture; a prosperous agriculture will mean a developed India.' The equation positions rural women not as beneficiaries of policy but as its primary engine.

This connects to an existing policy lineage — schemes such as the Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana and the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) have for over a decade channelled skill-building and financial inclusion support to women farmers through self-help groups. Chouhan's post signals continued political will to deepen and expand that architecture.

His closing pledge was a collective one — an invitation to 'every sister' to resolve, on this day, to advance every dimension of agriculture, their own progress, and the nation's development. On Mahila Kisan Diwas, the minister's message is unambiguous: when Indian agriculture rises, it will be on the shoulders of its women.