Vol. 10, Special Issue 7 (2021)

Author(s):
S Srivara Buddhi Bhuvaneswari

Abstract:
Women play a central role in the conservation, management and use of bio-diversity on which life depends. Their contribution, however, is often overlooked. They are "invisible" partners from grassroots to policy level. If bio-diversity is to survive, women and men must play an equal part in its conservation and management. There is therefore an urgent need to understand gender role in conservation to promote and ensure the sustainable conservation and use of agro biodiversity now and in the future. The investigation was carried out in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu State. The habitations namely Kunjappanai and Semmanarai were selected from two villages (Jakkanarai and Konavakarai respectively) of Kothagiri taluk of Nilgiris district. A sample of 120 respondents with 72 and 48 tribal women was selected from the identified two habitations following the proportionate and random sampling procedure. Data were collected with the help of a well constructed interview schedule and analysed with suitable statistical techniques. The extent of participation of tribal women in agrobiodiversity conservation is studied by analyzing the extent of participation of tribal women in two kinds of its measures viz., In situ On-farm and Ex situ Conservation. It has been noted that tribal women participated in almost all the activities like nursery preparation, field preparation, sowing/ transplanting, intercultural operation, harvesting, seed production, threshing/separating, winnowing, drying/cleaning and storing with their counterpart by performing all the three roles viz., self-doing, assisting and supervising at varying degrees. Thus, directly or indirectly and knowingly or unknowingly she has participated for the conservation and maintenance of agrobiodiversity in Nilgiris district.