Maya KC was ridiculed when she established an organic vegetable farm in 1991, immediately after the great peoples’ movement was successfully concluded in Nepal. The farm spread for over a hectare and she found a market for her produce among local retired military men from abroad. In addition to this, she had a cow that provided her with milk that she sold on the side. She also sold varieties of vegetables in Kathmandu.
Then she started farming local green leafy vegetables. These became popular among consumers that eventually, other farmers started farming them, too. Maya earns regular income from farming and still, her farms are becoming more and more profitable as nowadays, there is a demand for organic and local leafy vegetables among the hotels in tourist areas such as Pokhara.
Many farmers in Kaski were also inspired by Maya’s success in organic farming and followed her footprints. Before, farmers in Nepal were heavily dependent on chemical fertilizers and pesticides for a good harvest and to protect their crops against pests. But with the increasing awareness of the adverse effects of chemical fertilizers, farmers have changed their ways.
Maya also started an organic movement among vegetable farmers in Kathmandu. Recently, in partnership with Tulsi Thapa, she established Belpatra Organic agri-farm in Bhaisepati, Lalitpur, Kathmandu valley. The farm covers more than one hectare of land and is running profitably. Although, she faces some challenges including the increasing pollution in the surrounding area as well as land encroachment.
While struggling economically and socially, she found rays of hope with the support from MTCP2 Programme in empowering peasants. Through the programme, Maya attended several capacity building training on agriculture and other opportunities including exposure visits to other organic vegetable farms, training on uses of ICT in agriculture, value chain, Participatory Certification System (PCS) accounts, and management training. Eventually, with support from MTCP2, ANPFa, and local mobilization, Maya was able to build a training hall where she now conducts training on organic vegetable farming to share and other discussions.
Maya’s success as the first woman from a local community to practice organic vegetable farming has reached even beyond her community and this has influenced and inspired many other women.
“Working together with other women helps in building self-confidence, trust, and mutual cooperation by spreading the message of women empowerment through organic vegetable farming,” Maya says.
Recently, she extended this organic movement in the eastern part of Nepal and many municipalities in the districts of Udaypur and Saptari are already following this system. In 2017, the farmers of these municipalities received a contract to supply bitter gourd to Qatar for seven years, which is just the start of a promising future for them thanks to shifting to organic farming. #
About MTCP2
The Medium-Term Cooperation Program Phase 2 (MTCP2), a five-year capacity building program supported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), and the European Union (EU), has been implemented in 19 countries across three sub-regions—Southeast Asia, South Asia, and the Pacific—engaging 1,544 sub-national farmers organizations (FOs) with a total membership of around 22 million farmers. The funding support (total budget of $ 5 million for the whole duration of the project across 19 countries) serves as a catalytic fund that will allow FOs to enhance their capacity to be effective channels of economic services to farmers. The program has contributed to the formation of the strong national platform of FOs with improved capacity to engage in policy processes and mobilize resources from mainstream agricultural development programs like extension services, credit, and pre and post-harvest facilities. The program also helped in transforming farmers’ associations into commodity-based cooperatives to strengthen the role of small-scale farmers within an inclusive and sustainable value-chain. The program is being implemented by the consortium Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA) and La Via Campesina (LVC).
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