Dhaka: Women’s role in agriculture is mostly unrecognised in terms of low wages compared to their male counterparts, said Mike Robson, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Representative in Bangladesh.

In his presentation at an event here on March 9 on the occasion of International Women’s Day, 2016,

Mike said women in Bangladesh are getting lesser wages in comparison to the men for the same work.

Economic Relations Division (ERD) and FAO jointly organised the event at NEC of Planning Commission to promote this year’s theme ‘Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step up for Gender Equality’ through eradicating gender gap in agriculture

Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury and State Minister for Public Administration Ismat Ara Sadique attended the function with ERD Senior Secretary Mohammad Mejbahuddin in the chair.

On the occasion, Matia Chowdhury said women are involved in agriculture since the beginning of civilization. The present government continued to provide support to the women farmers through training and motivation and also in many other ways, she added.

The FAO Representative said agricultural productivity of woman folk is still low as they have little access to technology and other facilities. As result of low skill, women empowerment in Bangladesh has marked poor status and they need to access to resources and decision making process to become empowered socially and economically, he observed.

Other speakers called for recognising women who work in agricultural sector as farmers and ensuring them equal payment.

Women are highly engaged in feeding and collecting grass and fodder for domestic animals, putting to and taking out of shelter, cleaning sheds, offering water to animals and selling eggs and milk, they said, adding men are engaged in selling and marketing.

The value of women’s unpaid work should be calculated to recognise their contribution to the nation economy, the speakers added.