Abstract:
Gender equity has been emphasized as a considerable aspect regarding
sustainable development in any nation of the world. Thus, this study was
conducted to assess the level of time poverty of women farmers and its
impact for food production in the Imbulpe Divisional Secretariat (DS)
division in Rathnapura district in Sri Lanka. The objectives were to identify
the time allocation of women farmers and to assess the time poverty and
the effect of time poverty on food production in the study area. A sample
of 300 women farmers was randomly selected through the simple random
sampling method from five selected Grama Niladhari (GN) divisions of the
Imbulpe DS division. A self-administered questionnaire survey was used
with the help of a pre-tested questionnaire, in data collection from April to
July 2019. The model of Harvey and Mukhopadhyay (2007) was used as the
measurement of time poverty with necessary modifications based on the
situation of the study area. Descriptive statistics and regression analysis
were used in data analysis. The findings revealed that the respondents
have obtained a considerably high headcount index of time poverty (0.79) in their efforts in food production. Therefore, it can be concluded that
women farmers who live in the Imbulpe area consist of a low level of time
for their farming and leisure activities. Therefore, conducting extension
programs related to the application of modern farming technologies and
enhance market information accessibility to reduce the time consume
when marketing their agricultural products and enhance the participation
in stress management programs are timely important activities to help
these women farmers.
