Pointing out that rural women are the hardest hit by food crisis, the Youth and Small Entrepreneurs Self-employment Fund (YSEF), established by the government in 2009, has launched the awareness program in the districts under the banner Climate Change, Agriculture, Food Security (CCAFS), targeting, mainly, women farmers. [break]
The CCAFS is a program launched by Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIA), an international organization which funds agricultural crop breeding for increasing food security, improving human health and nutrition, and ensuring long-term management of natural resources in underdeveloped countries.
“Due to climate change and irregular rains, agricultural productions are decreasing, giving rise to rural poverty. As a result, male farmers in the villages are either heading to cities or the Gulf to make a living, leaving farming in the hands of female members of the family. So, it is necessary to tell the female farmers about the climate change and new farming techniques,” informed Punya Prasad Regmi, executive vice-chairperson of the YSEF.
Each women leader from cooperative organizations in all the districts that have borrowed loan from the YSEF were given a three-day trainer training in the capital some three months ago under the aegis of the CGIA. “Currently, the same leaders are giving training to the female farmers in their respective districts,” admitted Regmi.
The YSEF has already organized the awareness program among female farmers in Sindhuli, Nawalparasi, Makwanpur and Chitwan districts.
On Septemper 3, Chitrabhan Cooperative Organization in Chitwan district had organized a one-day awareness program on the CCAFS. “More women farmers turned up in the program than we had expected. They were taught how adapting to new agriculture system can help reduce food scarcity,” reported Ambika Devekota, a trainer appointed for Chitwan district
Though the program was targeted for around 100 female farmers in the district, as much as 240 farmers had attended the awareness program.
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