By John Jordan
Lalu Maya's is a typical story of a woman in rural Nepal. At least it starts that way. It has taken a very different direction.
Lalu grew up in a small village in the Udaypur district in eastern Nepal. At 19, she found herself in an arranged marriage. This ended her dream of getting a high school education. Her husband was the single wage earner. This left Lalu with all
house chores and tending the family's small farm of rice, corn and goats. To obtain fodder for goats, Lalu had to walk hours to and from a jungle.
Even as Lalu worked from dawn to dusk, the couple had barely enough to live on. With the arrival of two daughters, their economic situation further declined.
To earn more income, Lalu's husband left to work in another country. This is extremely common in Nepal, where foreign remittances account for about 25% of the country's GDP—among the highest in the world. Entire rural villages have few if any men. When Lalu's husband joined this migration, it left Lalu with a home, two children and small farm on which the family depended for sustenance.
Again, quite typical for a woman in rural Nepal.
Then Lalu heard about monthly meetings held by HANDS Nepal, a local NGO supported by World Neighbors.
She was intrigued by the first training she attended, about kitchen gardens.These are small gardens of diverse produce that are grown using sustainable techniques. They provide a variety of vegetables and fruit that enhances nutrition.When families apply other techniques, including water storage ponds and tunnel greenhouses, kitchen gardens can scale to commercial level. Surplus is harvested nearly year-round and sold in local markets.
Lalu started a kitchen garden, involving her daughters in the work. She next learned how to produce organic fertilizer and pesticide, including pesticide made from goat urine. Using these inputs increased the output of both her kitchen garden and her small corn and rice fields.
Perhaps most important were the agroforestry trainings Lalu attended. She learned how to grow grass and trees that can be used as animal fodder. After three years, Lalu's fodder farm has grown to 16,428 square feet. Lalu no longer must spend hours walking to and from a jungle to collect feed for her goats.
As important as the time she gains with her children and for more productive farm tasks, the fodder she produces near her home has enabled Lalu to increase her goat herd from 11 to 22. She now sells them, 4 to 5 goats at a time, producing income of about 45,000 rupees—more than $600. This is a substantial sum in rural Nepal.
Lalu is investing the profits in improved shedding to hold more goats. She and her husband have decided to start a commercial goat farm.This would allow Lalu's husband to end the expat life and remain at home with this family.It also has the potential to even further raise the family's standard of living.
Nearly every international development organization recognizes that lifting people from poverty begins with a focus on agricultural. Hilly areas like Nepal's Udaypar district don't lend themselves to industrial techniques that depend on expensive inputs. Higher output and productivity depends on tailored training and small-scale investment that builds on what communities already do. This approach can be just as transformative. Families lift themselves from poverty. As in Lalu's case, women often take the lead. With additional training in reproductive and other types of health, gender—and even caste--relations are changed in important ways.
Especially with COVID, which could drive hundreds of millions of people back into poverty, it's important to focus on what works to increase incomes in sustainable ways. Lalu's story shines a light on one such way. To speak with World Neighbors, please contact me at 202-554-5796.
