My name is Tilak Budha Magar, from Bhume Rural Municipality. I’m a member of the Namuna Farmer’s Group, secretary of the Gravity Goods Ropeway Consumer Committee, and operator of the Ropeway.
Tilak Budha Magar
Lifting Communities
Tilak is defying gravity
Farmers in the mountainous regions of Nepal are faced with an impossible choice that no one should have to make. The only place to sell produce is the markets, over one kilometre below. On foot, it’s a long, treacherous and back-breaking six-hour round trip, risking wild animals and carrying only as much as you can bear. Injuries are common, and some have even died.
Like millions of people around the world, Tilak is feeling the impacts of the accelerating climate crisis. More frequent and powerful monsoon storms made the journey down the mountain even more perilous – triggering landslides and regularly erasing what pathways there were.
In this context, the world needs action. So we worked with farmers like Tilak to create another way: the Gravity Goods Ropeway.
The way it works is simple, but clever: a basic rope and pulley system. Farmers at the top fill a cage with their crops and, as they’re lowered down, the weight pulls up a lighter package (of whatever the farmers might need) in exchange. It’s relatively cheap, does not pollute or damage the environment, and uses no fuel: only gravity!
Work like this depends on your support
Help us work with communities to tackle some of the world’s toughest problems.
Cutting out the journey to market saves hours every day and means that no one has to risk their life to earn a living. This has meant farmers can grow more, sell more, earn more and are now expanding the range of crops they cultivate, giving markets more food to stock and customers more choice. From one smart solution, whole communities are now safer, healthier and happier.
Crops go down, and all of this goes up…
- Incomes: More crops going to market means more money for farmers and more business for the market traders.
- Enterprise: Growing enough food to sell is encouraging farmers to try different crops and new techniques that can increase yields and help maintain soil quality.
- Education: Extra time and income means more children have the opportunity to go to school and buy the books and equipment they need to study for a brighter future.
- Nutrition: A greater range of crops means more nutritious food for the whole region, both at the market and for farmers who have enough to buy more varied ingredients themselves.
The Gravity Goods Ropeway shows how your support can help people in poverty earn a living and stay safe in the face of climate change, when the usual solutions are not an option. We need action, not more of the same. Please give today.
