India losing ₹1.2-2 lakh crore annually due to unequal access to credit, agri inputs to women farmers, says Arya.ag report

Unequal access to credit and agricultural inputs has resulted in a 24% productivity gap between women’s and men’s farms of the same size in India, a report released by agri-tech firm Arya.ag says.

Applying United Nation agency Food and Agriculture Organisationn (FAO’s) 2.5–4% output-loss estimate to India’s agricultural GVA of ₹48.7 lakh crore, the report estimates less access to credit, farm inputs and support to women led farms is resulting in a loss of ₹1.2 to 2 lakh crore loss in the country’s annual farm output.

The “Her Harvest 2026: The hidden cost of women’s invisible work in Indian agriculture” report also notes that women in agrifood systems earn roughly ₹82 for every ₹100 earned by men, and women farm workers earn 20–30% less for the same work.

The analysis shows agriculture to be the largest employer of women in the country with more than 64% of India’s working women engaged in it, up from 57% in 2017–18, and 76.95% of rural working women. In terms of area, women operate 11.72% of the farmed area.

“The first question has been settled: agriculture is where most of India’s working women work,” said Prasanna Rao, Managing Director and CEO, Arya.ag. “The open question is whether our systems recognise them as farmers. A woman who cannot access credit, storage or a market is not an underperforming farmer. She is an unrecognised one.”

The report proposes four priorities: count her, by recognising women as farmers regardless of whose name is on the deed; finance her, through collateral-light credit and warehouse receipts; equip her, with drones, advisory services and market technologies; and organise her, by building women-led FPOs as long-term market institutions rather than short-term projects.

The report draws on public datasets and institutional sources including PLFS 2023–24, the Agriculture Census 2015–16, FAO, ILO, Government of India sources, IFC and Arya.ag disclosures.

Arya.ag aggregates and stores $ 3 billion worth of grain annually while enabling disbursement of over $ 1.5 billion of loans to small-holder farmers, their organisations and other stakeholders. Women-led FPOs on the platform grew 128% in two years and more than 50,000 women are directly engaged. Through AryaShakti, in partnership with Friends of Women’s World Banking, the platform supports 10,000 farming households through women-led FPOs.