From feeding families to leading communities, Jumla women redefine farming

With support from clean energy, improved farming practices and better market access, women in Jumla are increasing their incomes, gaining financial independence and taking leadership roles in their communities

Channarupa Budha of Patarasi Rural Municipality-4, Jumla, picking fresh apples. Photo courtesy: UNDP Nepal

KATHMANDU: For 50-year-old Channarupa Budha, from Lamri in Ward 4 of Patarasi Rural Municipality, Jumla, farming was once mainly a way to feed her family. Today, she has grown beyond her traditional role as a homemaker. She is now a farmer, an orchard owner and an inspiring community leader in her remote mountain village in western Nepal.

As chairperson of the Rani Farmers’ Group, she leads a 31-member group comprising 26 women and five men. She works with them to increase agricultural production, strengthen food security and connect their products to local markets.  She also helps farmers identify emerging problems in the field and find practical solutions.

Until three years ago, her main concern was producing enough food to feed her family. She cultivated maize, wheat, barley, beans locally known as Jumli Simi and potatoes. She spent most of her time in the fields working from dawn to dusk, counted as an ‘unpaid laborer.’ Producing adequate food for her family was a source of happiness. Today, her focus has shifted towards farming as a source of income. She also encourages other group members to see it as an income-generating opportunity.

Her outlook began to change after the Renewable Energy for Resilient Agri-Food Systems (RERAS) project started providing the farmers’ group with monthly capacity-building training on improved agricultural practices, along with regular technical support. This water, energy and food nexus-focused project, with a total budget of USD 12.54 million, is jointly funded by the Royal Norwegian Embassy, the Embassy of Finland, and the United Nations Development Program and implemented in collaboration with local governments and partners.

50 years old Channarupa Budha. Photo courtesy: UNDP Nepal

Meanwhile, today, 15th October, marks the International Day of Rural Women, a day to recognize and celebrate the invaluable contributions of farming women, including those in Jumla. These women not only sustain their livelihoods through their daily work in the fields but also play a profound role in protecting nature by preserving indigenous crops, conserving biodiversity, managing water resources, and restoring degraded soils.

Kyoko Yokosuka, Resident Representative of UNDP Nepal said when using clean energy to process and preserve local food to process and preserve local food, it can transform rural economies and communities.

“In places like Jumla, we are seeing women move beyond farming just to feed their families and become entrepreneurs who connect their products to markets and take leadership roles in their communities. Through the RERAS project, we are helping put rural women at the heart of building strong, self-sustaining local economies,” Yokosuka further added.

From subsistence farming to entrepreneurship

Women are at the center of agriculture in Jumla, often carrying a double burden of managing demanding farms and households while men migrate seasonally to India or urban cities for work. According to Mohan Singh Mahat, Agriculture Officer at Tatopani Rural Municipality, Jumla, women make up around 80 percent of the agricultural workforce, compared with 20 percent of men.

Since July 2023, RERAS has provided financial and technical support to farmers in Patarasi Rural Municipality, Chandannath Municipality and Tatopani Rural Municipality. The support includes gender-responsive agricultural tools and equipment designed to reduce women’s workload, as well as opportunities to increase production and income.

Through the project support, Channarupa learned how to prepare land for apple farming, plant and care for saplings, prune and graft trees, irrigate orchards, and grow and harvest quality apples. Farmers in the area traditionally planted saplings with limited follow-up care and harvested fruit when it was ready. Premature harvesting was also common.

Apple farmers from Jumla. Photo courtesy: UNDP Nepal

She now tends her orchard regularly and irrigates it using a micro-hydropower powered water-lifting irrigation system when there is no snow or rain. These improved practices have helped increase both her production and the price she receives for her apples. “When we provide proper manure, care and irrigation to our orchards, they produce bigger, juicier and tastier apples,” she says. The Rani Farmer Group’s members have also received a water-lifting irrigation system that draws water from Tila river to their orchards. This system is powered by the 998 kw community-led Chukeni Khola Micro Hydropower Project in Patarasi.

Last year, Channarupa harvested five quintals of apples from 35 trees. This year, the same number of trees produced 12 quintals. Last year, she sold her apples to a middleman for Rs. 40 per kg. This year, after producing better-quality apples, she sold them to Chandannath Multipurpose Cooperative Limited in Khalanga for Rs. 80 per kg. “I have learned that when I produce quality apples, I can also get a better price than earlier,” she says. This shows how the farming skills acquired through the project are helping her earn higher prices for her produce and moving beyond subsistence farming towards a more income-generating livelihood.

Her potato farming tells same success story. Using an old seed variety, she could harvest only around 35 kg in a single season, making it difficult to meet even her family’s food needs. After receiving technical guidance, she changed to a different seed variety and improved her farming practices. This year, she harvested six quintals of potatoes, enough to eat and sell.