A Nepalese love story

How farming reunited Mahima and her true love

Life has been tough for Mahima Gharti. Forced to flee from conflict in her native village, she moved to the Shanti-tole settlement in Kathmandu with her family to start afresh. Despite purchasing a small plot of land to feed the family, the high saline content of the soil made the land barren. Faced with a heartbreaking choice, Mahima's beloved husband was forced to leave for India and find work in hotels. Mahima was left to work as a labourer - and bring up their five children - alone.

But after hearing Practical Action staff talk at a village meeting, Mahima was determined to turn things around. Since she had some experience of farm working, she convinced the other women that vegetable cultivation could help them to save enough money for their husbands to return. She discussed the idea with other women who were in a similar situation. Mahima formed a group of 16 women and began looking for land that could be leased. She finally identified one area as suitable but, it was only sufficient for six women. Undeterred, she went ahead and started with the poorest women.

With the help of Practical Action, the women are now skilled in vegetable and seed cultivation. As Mahima told us, "We used to scatter seeds but, after training, I now know how to make nurseries and transplant into the main field."

So thanks to the project, her husband had been able to return. With the family reunited, they're now able to help her to irrigate the land using a treadle pump.  With her broken heart mended, Mahima now helps other farmers with the transplanting, fertilising and harvesting methods she has learned.

As for the rest of the Shanti-tole leasehold group, they now collect money from each member, which will be used for paying the group's future contributions. Besides having a savings plan, Mahima's group also has an annual crop production plan and many of their husbands have now returned to the settlement. After harvesting cucumbers, she plants onions, which fetch a high price during festival time. In the early winter, she plants cabbages and cauliflowers and the group earns around 10,000 Nrs a year (around £75) - money that means her family will be able to stay together.

"I hope that the men from our village will no longer need to migrate to India to look for work as they can obtain more benefits from this leasehold farming project," Mahima says.
 

See also The story of Phool Kumari: a video case study | How the pump works