Indian agriculture is undergoing a unique shift. With growing rural-to-urban male migration, traditional agriculture is becoming 'feminized'—today, 75% of workers on Indian farms are women.

Lay’s partners with 27,000 farming families. Despite the same farming parameters—season, soil, crop—our women-led farms were seeing a significant 30% yield drop; curtailing supply-chain efficiencies. A steady supply of healthy potatoes is central to our business. If supply decreases, meeting demand requires at least 6 months from crop season arrival to harvest to pack.

Working with our farmers, we realized that since agriculture was traditionally done by men, it was also ergonomically designed for men. The machines and standard tools are designed basis the male body, which impacts women farmer’s efficiency. This is detrimental to their agricultural practices and makes farming a burden for women.

To protect our business, we needed to transform our agri-chain operations by re-designing agriculture for women.

Since agriculture was traditionally done by men, it was also ergonomically designed for men. For any design solution to work, it needs to suit the body it is being made for, otherwise it is simply bad design and not a ‘solution’. To make agriculture a level playing field for sexes, we needed to account for female anatomy at every step of farming.

So, we set out to reengineer agriculture through gender ergonomic principles for women-centric design solutions and partnered with USAID to developed ‘Project Farm Equal’- a systemic redesigning of agri-tools and practices of age-old agri-industry using gender ergonomics.

By creating women centric design solutions, Farm Equal is ground-breaking project which keeps women on the forefront of design innovation to help them maximise their true potential.

Despite more females in workforce- +307 million women have joined labour market since 2000- female body is an afterthought in ergonomic design. Traditional design approach for women is to size down the default male version and make it in a "feminine" colour- impacting female workforce, as products not made for their bodies affect efficiency.

We realized you can’t just “Shrink it & Pink it”. Indian women are 20% shorter and 30% lighter than men. Change in anatomy, changes the way female farmers use standard agri-tools vs male farmers; impacting their push, pull, grip & carry strength, detrimental to their efficiency.

Our strategy was hinged on reengineering agri-tools and heavy agri-machinery through gender ergonomic principles; shifting from “default” male standard designs towards women-centric design solutions.

Project Farm Equal’s first initiative focused on heavy farm-machinery. Collaborating with NIYO we remodelled equipment according to female anatomy; addressing factors like weight, height, strength, and grip span for:

-> Mobility: Lighter material, redistributed weight

-> Manoeuvrability: Lighter wheels for dexterity

-> Flexibility: Height adjustable handles

-> Efficiency: Greater width, covering more ground in less time

We’re also re-engineering standard hand-tools that haven’t been changed for centuries:

Trowel: Handle-diameter reduced to 30mm, for secure grip for different sized hands. 600 grams weight minimizes fatigue. 90mm width, 165mm length blade has sharp-edges for powerful digging. Handle length of 130mm provides control.

Sickle: Handle-diameter reduced to 31mm, ensuring comfort. Light 800 grams minimizes hand-stress, enhances cutting power. 150mm length, 152mm width blade precisely cuts crops and weeds.

Harvester: Lightweight yet durable materials. Handle-diameter reduced to 33mm, for ergonomic grip. 900mm length strikes balance between manoeuvrability and leverage. 25% reduced weight maximizes efficiency.

Project Farm Equal is about redefining agriculture completely and designing its ecosystem for women. Empowering our farmers and strengthening business by transforming our agri-chain through gender ergonomic principles, we have seen:

-> 16% Lay’s gross potato production increase in 2023 vs 2021.

-> 87.6% increase in women's participation in Project Farm Equal.