ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sociol.
Sec. Gender, Sex and Sexualities
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2025.1656780
This article is part of the Research TopicGender-Responsive Strategies for Enhancing Resilience in Agri-Food Systems Amid Climate ShocksView all 9 articles
The Unsung Women of Citriculture: Bridging Science and Society through Macro and Micro Analysis for Improved Technology Adoption in Citrus Value Chain
Provisionally accepted
Sangeeta Bhattacharyya1*
Deepa Lal2Arnab Roy3
Priyanka Lal4
DR PINAKI ROY5
Samrat Sikdar6Suchandra Dutta7Tannishtha Bardhan8- 1Central Citrus Research Institute (ICAR), Nagpur, India
- 2Krishi Vigyan Kendra, ICAR-Central Institute for Cotton Research, Nagpur, India
- 3Central Tasar Research and Training Institute, Ranchi, India
- 4Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, India
- 5Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Sitamarhi, Bihar, India
- 6College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Mississippi State University, Starkville, United States
- 7Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute, Belur Math, India
- 8Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, New Delhi, India
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Women constitute 43% of global agricultural workforce, remain largely undocumented in several sectors, especially, citrus farming (citriculture).Though citrus fruits are cultivated commercially in more than 150 countries, significant gender disparities exist in citriculture like women facing drudgery, lack of access to resources, advisories, technical information and opportunities for capacity development. In this study, the quantum of documentation done in ‗Science' on ‗women in citriculture'was analyzed through ‗Macro Analysis' whereby bibliographic assessment ofand systematic review of literature of 306 articles ranging from 1929 to 2024 available in ‗gender and citrus farming' from 35 major citrus producing countries was done using PRISMA guidelines and Rayyan QCRI. The analysis revealed 10 major gender disparitiesof 3 categories on a longitudinal and cross sectional scale. A cross country visualization of gender disparities affecting agricultural technology adoption by women farmers was also done.For validating the findings with ‗Society', a ‗Micro Analysis'based on the theoretical grounding of Kabeer's empowerment framework was conducted by interviewing 300 women citrus growers of Nagpur, India on 3 dimensions of empowerment, viz., resources, agency and achievements in the context of technology adoption.Only 20% of respondents had high Technology Adoption Score (4-6) Further, respondents with sound technical know-how of citriculture were found to face lesser degrees of socio-personal gender disparities (t-value=2.02 significant at 0.05 level) than those who lacked technical knowledge. Systematic strategies for women empowerment by applying Gender Transformative Approacheswere outlined based on macro analysis that can lead to enhanced impact of agricultural technologies, improved livelihoods, sustainable citriculture and social development through achievement of Sustainable Development Goals.
Keywords: Women, citrus value chain, sustainable citriculture, gender gap, science and society, macro and microanalysis, Technology gap, women empowerment strategies
Received: 03 Jul 2025; Accepted: 02 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Bhattacharyya, Lal, Roy, Lal, ROY, Sikdar, Dutta and Bardhan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Sangeeta Bhattacharyya, Central Citrus Research Institute (ICAR), Nagpur, India
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