Empowering Women Farmers by Building Resilience to Heat Stress

Kori, Pooja; Verma, Benu; Puskur, Ranjitha

Empowering Women Farmers by Building Resilience to Heat Stress

cg.authorship.types	CGIAR multi-centre
cg.contributor.affiliation	CGIAR GENDER Impact Platform
cg.contributor.affiliation	International Rice Research Institute
cg.contributor.donor	CGIAR Trust Fund
cg.coverage.country	India
cg.coverage.iso3166-alpha2	IN
cg.coverage.region	Asia
cg.coverage.region	South-eastern Asia
cg.creator.identifier	Ranjitha Puskur: 0000-0002-9112-3414
cg.howPublished	Grey Literature
cg.place	Nairobi, Kenya
cg.reviewStatus	Internal Review
cg.subject.impactPlatform	Gender
dc.contributor.author	Kori, Pooja
dc.contributor.author	Verma, Benu
dc.contributor.author	Puskur, Ranjitha
dc.date.accessioned	2025-07-07T04:32:42Z
dc.date.available	2025-07-07T04:32:42Z
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10568/175496
dc.title	Empowering Women Farmers by Building Resilience to Heat Stress	en
dcterms.abstract	As global temperatures rise, heat stress has become a major concern, particularly for rural communities engaged in agriculture. Rural women, who play a crucial role in agriculture, experience the disproportionate effects of heat stress due to their physiological differences, cultural norms, and socioeconomic challenges. In Ganjam district, Odisha, India, women farmers face significant difficulties from heat stress, which impacts their health, productivity and overall well-being. To address these challenges, the CGIAR GENDER Impact Platform, led by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in collaboration with Awaas Sewa Pvt. Ltd (ASPL), organized a series of training workshops aimed at enabling women farmers to better understand and manage heat stress and also build resilience to heat and other climate-related challenges. The three part training workshops, held between August and October 2024, focused on women farmers from Pratappur and Atraipalli villages of Ganjam district. The first workshop raised awareness about the impacts of heat stress on both their agricultural and domestic activities. The second workshop brought in the Community-Based Vulnerability Assessment Tool (CBVAT) along with other tools to help farmers assess and understand climate-related vulnerabilities specific to their communities. The final workshop provided practical heat stress management strategies and solutions, and also aimed at empowering women with knowledge of locally available resources and coping mechanisms. The trainings helped build capacity, developed community-driven solutions, and ensured that women farmers are better equipped to tackle the growing challenges posed by heat stress. The workshops integrated expert guidance with participants' lived experiences, enhancing the resilience of rural women farmers. Among various climate stresses like droughts, floods, cyclones, and others, women farmers identified prolonged heatwaves as the most severe, significantly impacting both their agricultural and domestic activities. Many participants shared that their husbands and sons often migrate for work, leaving them to manage both farming and household responsibilities alone. The group discussions during the trainings revealed a profound impact of heat stress on women’s daily lives, both in domestic and agricultural work. Women reported that they often start their day very early to avoid the intense midday heat while cooking in poorly ventilated houses, a practice that results in chronic fatigue due to inadequate rest. They described the compounded challenges they face, including sleepless nights caused by the oppressive combination of heat, humidity, and frequent or prolonged power outages. Adding to their burden, they must fetch water and gather firewood from distant locations under scorching conditions, further exacerbating their physical and mental strain. Women shared that their physical work on the farms leads to headaches, dizziness, exhaustion, skin and eye irritation and other health problems. Also, the physical strain, poor sanitation conditions, and risks of snake or scorpion bites in the fields add to their hardships. Balancing the dual responsibilities of agricultural work and domestic duties often results in emotional exhaustion and strained family relationships for these women. A training activity named ‘Heat Voting Activity’ revealed that transplanting in Mid July to mid August is the most challenging stage for the women farmers, followed by weeding in August which involves long hours of physically demanding work in the paddy fields under the scorching sun. Even during the harvesting period in November–December, though not typically associated with peak temperatures, women reported discomfort from the combined effects of heat and humidity while cutting and harvesting paddy. Participants during the trainings, discussed the practical coping strategies that they follow such as adjusting work hours to avoid peak temperatures in the day, using protective clothing, and consuming cooling foods and drinks. The training presented a variety of innovative, sustainable solutions aimed at helping women farmers cope with the increasing heat stress in their daily lives and work environments. These solutions included cost-effective and locally adaptable strategies, such as solar-reflecting white paint for roofs to reduce indoor temperatures, ModRoof systems made from recycled materials, and eco-friendly bamboo roofing for better insulation. Additionally, the introduction of green roofs, thermocool insulation, and cooling stations offered practical ways to create cooler spaces for rest and work. These tools empower women farmers by providing them with affordable, accessible methods to improve their resilience to heat stress and enhance their overall well-being. The training showcased success stories of some women leaders who took proactive steps in their communities to mitigate heat stress, providing inspiration for collective action. Participants also learned to use the Satark app for disaster preparedness and were informed about the state government relief scheme offering financial compensation for families impacted by heat strokes. The training successfully raised awareness, built capacity, and promoted community-driven solutions to heat stress. It demonstrated the importance of gender-responsive approaches in addressing climate change and empowering rural women to take charge of climate resilience in their families as well as communities. Continued support and collaboration are essential to scale up these interventions, ensuring long-term impact and creating resilient farming communities to growing temperatures.	en
dcterms.accessRights	Open Access
dcterms.audience	CGIAR
dcterms.audience	Donors
dcterms.audience	Scientists
dcterms.bibliographicCitation	Kori, P., Verma, B. and Puskur, R. 2024. Empowering women farmers by building resilience to heat stress. Nairobi, Kenya: CGIAR GENDER Impact Platform.
dcterms.issued	2024
dcterms.language	en
dcterms.license	Other
dcterms.publisher	CGIAR GENDER Impact Platform
dcterms.subject	training
dcterms.subject	gender
dcterms.subject	women's empowerment
dcterms.subject	women
dcterms.type	Training Material

Empowering Women Farmers by Building Resilience to Heat Stress

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