Despite the presence of fertile lands, easy availability of organic fertilizer, and access to water for irrigation, the villagers never grew other types of nutritious vegetables. In lack of crop diversity in their cultivation, they ate nutritionally rich vegetables only when someone brought them from the town around 15 km away accessed through a back breaking ride on a rocky road.
But Khimuti and many other villagers are embracing new crops and techniques of cultivation introduced by SAF-BIN project that is helping small farmers in Nepal, India and Bangladesh to adopt new farming methods for strengthening household food security as well as ensuring the nutritional needs of the rural families. SAF-BIN is working with small farmers in several districts of Nepal. In Nawalparashi district, the project has formed three farmers' groups comprising mostly of women to help them learn scientific farming techniques that are more productive.
Khimuti's field was chosen for learning and experimenting where all the women of her group worked together. They built a plastic house, prepared the field for cultivation, planted the seeds and used fertilizer following precise techniques provided to them by a JTA hired by CARITAS Nepal, which is implementing the SAF-BIN project in Nepal.
On a recent visit to Khimuti's field, one could see cauliflower in full bloom on a patch of land and in the lot next to it bunches of tomatoes hung from densely growing bushes. The plastic house protected the seeds from mist and cold whereas the use of hybrid seeds ensured better yield.
Khimuti's only son is in India and, as she herself and her husband are growing old, they can't tend to their fields by themselves. It is true of almost every household in the three VDCs that has one or more family members working in India, Malaysia or other Gulf countries.
Given the situation, farming activities is impossible in absence of farmers' groups whose members lend a hand during cultivation at each other's fields.
Rani Sari Darlami, 32, whose husband is in Malaysia, ploughs her field herself. Her family owns about one and a half bigha of land in Rakachuli of the district.
For the past few years, farmers in Rakachuli and neighboring VDCs were worried by the decline in rice production. With rainfall becoming both erratic and scarce, the yields from the old rice variety heavily reliant on availability of abundant water had begun to drop with each passing year. But after they began planting a new rice variety provided to them by the SAF-BIN project they have been getting better yields.
"Rice production has been much better this year compared to the last year. While for the past few years the yields from one bigha of our land hovered around 8 to 9 muri, this year it was 15 to-16 muri," said Darlami. "It is enough to feed my family throughout the year."
In lack of farmhands and encouraging yields, farming was gradually taking a backseat in Rakachuli as well as Mainaghat VDCs in Nawalparashi district. Many landowning households were either cutting down the size of their cultivation or simply letting their lands remain fallow.
But SAF-BIN project has been successful in reviving interest in farming among the villagers. "Other members in the farmers' groups have started to demand plastic, seeds and technical support to cultivate their lands," said Kaushila Sapkota, team leader of Safbin in the district. "Farmers here are very hardworking and adept. With little encouragement and support, they can even grow enough vegetables to sell in the market."
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