Pooja’s story: a quest for knowledge

Meet Pooja, a farmer in Nepal. She’s sharing her story with you as part of our Turning the Tables on Climate Change campaign – an opportunity for you to help farmers adapt to the new climate reality and succeed.

Pooja talked to us about the impact the changing climate is having on her livelihood as a farmer in Nepal’s mountains. She also told us about the changes that could help her thrive in this remote region and her belief that knowledge holds the key to her success.

Erratic weather patterns

“Namaste. I’m Pooja Chaudhary and I live in Dang district in Nepal. My family is dependent on farming. It’s getting harder every year as the climate changes.”

“These days it rains less often but when it does rain, it rains for days. Because of this, the crops die both from too little water and too much. We barely grow enough to eat. We don’t have extra to sell.”

These are tomato saplings. As it is raining continuously, we have not been able to transplant them.

New pests and diseases

“New pests and diseases are destroying the crops. I don’t know anything about the different types of pests and how they can be prevented.”

“We don’t have any inkling about how to do farming in these conditions. If I had some knowledge about what might help, I could do things differently.”

We have planted beans. Pests are eating them. We don’t know what to do about it.

Seeds that don’t grow

“Farming here is challenging because it’s so remote. It takes four hours to walk to the nearest market. Seeds and fertilisers are difficult to get – sometimes I have to queue up all day. I don’t know about which seeds are best to use.”

“It hurts when the vegetables don’t grow as expected despite our hard work. It would be good to have knowledge of what to do.”

I had planted okra here but the saplings didn’t grow well. I think it’s because there wasn’t enough rain for them to grow properly.

With your support, farmers like Pooja can gain the knowledge they need to succeed.

With the right resources and know-how, Pooja would be well-equipped to adapt to the changing climate. Better seeds would make her crops more resilient to new weather patterns. Training in new farming techniques would mean she could grow bigger harvests – enough to feed her family with extra to sell.

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