On a blazing hot afternoon, a brand new tractor is going round in circles on a small portion of uncultivated land in R. Gopinathanpatti village, near Arur, about 15 km from Dharmapuri town. Steering the big, bulky vehicle with ease is a young village girl, M. Anjali, 20, whose parents are labourers.

Anjali, a second-year English literature student at the Government College, Arur, is one of 14 women being trained by Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) to become tractor drivers — an occupation considered a male bastion. On the adjacent field, two more tractors are seen circling the ground. Driving them are K. Ushamani, 31 and a mother of two, and G. Ambika, 24.

“My passion is to own a car at some time. That’s why I am learning to drive a tractor, to make it easy to drive a car,” says Anjali.

But for Ushamani and Ambika, becoming a tractor driver is due to economic compulsions. There is a huge shortage of drivers and those available demand huge amounts, says Ushamani, who owns five acres of land.

“A driver charges around Rs 45,000 a month. I can save this money if I drive the tractor myself. We need to spend only on diesel, which will be around Rs 5,000,” she elaborates.

Self-reliant

“It is easy to operate the tractor. We just need to get our basics right,” said Ambika. “I was wasting my time sitting at home. My husband (who works in an electronics shop) suggested I learn to drive a tractor, as it would help us plough our three acres,” she said.

“We are creating new women power in farming,” says Sanjeev Goyle, Senior Vice-President, Farm Equipment Sector and Applitrac Business Unit, M&M. It leaves the man of the house free to manage some other business or look for work in bigger towns or cities. After the initially bewildering idea of seeing a woman behind the wheel of these bulky machines, M&M saw the opportunity. “We wanted village women to come out of their huts and also ensure that there are enough drivers in the market,” he said.

M&M started the tractor driving training programme for women three years ago in Rasipuram, Tamil Nadu. Since then, it has trained over 2,100 women. In fact, at times, these women drivers are called by a number of farmers to operate their tractors — thus earning additional income for the family, he said. The training includes a three-four day class at regular intervals to teach them how to operate a tractor, maintain and use it in the field or even drive it on the road, in addition to helping them get a licence.

After the training, V. Somasundaram, Area Manager, Sales and Customer Operations, M&M, questioned the trainees when engine oil should be changed. Every 250 km, pat came the reply from M. Rajana, 22, who has passed the tenth standard. The gear oil should be changed every 1,000 hours, she said.

To market, too

Besides cultivation, women in villages now use tractors to ferry bags of rice, manure and implements to and from the local market. For some women it is more of a necessity to know how to operate the tractor, explains Somasundaram.

To make tractors women-friendly, M&M is making ergonomic changes to its vehicles, providing power-steering for better manoeuvrability. A light-touch clutch and gear-shifts placed on the side, rather than the middle (making access easier for women in saris), and easy hydraulics, are some of the new features, said Goyle.

“We enable women to take their own decisions regarding their fields, the crops to grow and implements to buy, and how to pace and monitor the farming,” he said. The training has allowed women to be more important contributors to family income — sometimes the sole bread winner. Many women are now contemplating buying tractors of their own.

After initial hesitation about such training, men in the villages are now spreading the word about the initiative as it translates to prosperity. It is the beginning of a revolution, not only for women in villages but also for M&M, said Goyle.

>raja.simhan@thehindu.co.in

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW