The Unsung Women of Citriculture: Bridging Science and Society through Macro and Micro Analysis for Improved Technology Adoption in Citrus Value Chain

Sangeeta Bhattacharyya^1*Deepa Lal²Arnab Roy³Priyanka Lal⁴DR PINAKI ROY⁵Samrat 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

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.