45 Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 87 (5): 613–7, May 2017/Article Impact of public private partnership model on women empowerment in agriculture K PONNUSAMY 1 , BINOO P BONNY 2 and MANJU DUTTA DAS 3 ICAR-Central Institute for Women in Agriculture, Bhubaneswar, Odisha Received: 16 August 2016; Accepted: 14 October 2016 ABSTRACT A study was undertaken to assess the impact of three public private partnership (PPP) models in agriculture which were implemented as part of ICAR network project namely “Public private partnership for gender mainstreaming in agriculture” by the Central Institute for Women in Agriculture (CIWA), Bhubaneswar during 2009-2013. After forming the farm women groups and framing of memorandum of understanding (MOU) with both public and private planers, the PPP model was successfully demonstrated on vegetable cultivation in Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu, mushroom cultivation in Palakkad and Thrissur districts of Kerala and vermicompost production in Jorhat district of Asom. Primary data were collected from members of farm woman group with 24 respondents in Tamil Nadu, 20 respondents in Kerala and 30 respondents in Asom in the month of April 2016. Frequency and percentage were worked out to interpret the results. Farm woman had better understanding about the concept of PPP and its utility. The relatives and neighbours although discouraged the PPP model in Tamil Nadu, extended whole hearted support in Kerala and Asom. Farm women realised 20% more income and 10% additional employment generation in all the three states. PPP models enhanced the access of farm woman to training, market, extension and fnancial services. They also helped the farm women to build up their confdence and team spirit. The critical input from these feld level demonstrated models would help to form or strong extension strategy for promoting partnership based models in agriculture. Key words: Gender, Impact assessment, Public Private Partnership, Women empowerment 1 Principal Scientist (e mail: ponnusamyk@hotmail. com), Division of Dairy Extension, NDRI, Karnal. 2 Professor (e mail: binoobonny@gmail.com), Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Horticulture, Kerala Agricultural University, Vellanikkara, KAU P O, Thrissur, Kerala. 3 Professor (e mail: ppp. aau@gmail.com), College of Home Science, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, Asom. Public private partnership (PPP) approach created large number of success stories in various sectors of economy including agriculture, health, science and technology, education, and infrastructure development in India. In fact, initiatives on similar lines have been attempted during the various phases of agricultural development of the country but signifcant momentum in these could be achieved after the implementation of Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) (Ponnusamy et al. 2012). However the social and technological empowerment of women who perform major agricultural tasks cutting across regions and enterprises of the country has been limited by historical and sociological reasons. Compared to men they face severe constraints in accessing production resources, markets and services in all sectors including agriculture (Pandey et al. 2016). Therefore, an attempt to utilize the potential of PPP strategies for gender specifc interventions was made under the national network project on public private partnership for gender mainstreaming in agriculture implemented in selected northern, southern, eastern and western states of India. Considering the importance of women in agriculture and their potential for accelerated agricultural progress, an impact assessment study of the effect of PPP model demonstrated in selected farm enterprises under the project on women empowerment was conducted in 2016 and the paper is based on the results. The paper describes the impact of PPP model on different dimensions of gender empowerment and constraints faced by women SHGs operating under the model. MATERIALS AND METHODS National network project on public private partnership for gender mainstreaming in agriculture was taken up during 2009-2013 to demonstrate the PPP as an approach to empower women in agriculture by building their capacities from production to marketing aspects. Central Institute for Women in Agriculture (CIWA), Bhubaneswar was the nodal network centre which had fve implementing centres at the Agricultural Universities of Kerala, Haryana, Jodhpur, Asom and Avinashaligham University for Women, Tamil Nadu. Each network partner implemented an action research https://doi.org/10.56093/ijas.v87i5.70127