India is predominantly a rural country with 6 lakh villages and has reported the densest rural population all over the world. About 72.2% of the population lives in villages and exhibit a close-knit community structure, organized around agricultural activities. Agriculture in India revolves around familial traditions, social relations and gender roles. Indian agriculture rests on the shoulders of rural women as60- 80 percent of the food production in India is the result of hard turmoil of rural Indian women. This has further accelerated with more women left behind for looking alone to agricultural activities from production- harvesting and post harvest operations due to the increase in the number of male urban migration for seeking better jobs and earning higher incomes. Economic survey conducted during 2017-18 revealed that with the rising migration of rural people to urban areas, the feminization of agricultural sector started to flourish with the escalating number of women engaged in numerous responsibilities such as cultivators, entrepreneurs and laborers (Mal, 2020). Agriculture employs 80 percent of rural women, thus their contribution in achieving Sustainable Development Goals especially related to nutrition and zero hunger cannot be ignored. Despite too much participation of women in agriculture and allied sectors studies have reported gender related disparities in these sectors. In an estimate by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations it was found that on providing equal access to productive resources to females as males the farm production would be increased by 20-30 percent resulting in adding 2.5-4 percent to the total agricultural output in the developing countries. Looking to their involvement in agriculture and role in India’s economic and other dimensions of development it is of utmost importance to bring them to the mainstay of agricultural development through gender main streaming. India’s various policies and programmes were framed keeping the women in the centre of the developmental paradigm. Their scope has been widened from traditional agriculture towards commercial agriculture and agripreneurship development through various women centered extension approaches focusing from special incentives - capacity building and skill enhancement programmes to adoption of Integrated Farming system so that their contribution can be widened in India’s economy leading ahead on women’s empowerment.

Keywords: Sustainable Development Goals, Gender main streaming, Capacity building and skill enhancement programmes, Integrated Farming system, Agripreneurship