Never far from Farming

 

Most Nepali’s are subsistence farmers, producing food on a small scale for their own use, and turning any surplus into cash. Living in Kathmandu creates a slightly false picture with the scores of stalls selling rice, pulses, meats, dairy products and a wide range of fresh vegetables. Away from the Katmandu Valley, as this area is known, things are very different. Although the situation may vary from one district to another and from one year to the next, Nepal is largely Food Insecure. The causes of this are not straight forward. I picked up a copy of ‘Food Crisis in Karnali’ by Jagaannath Adhikari, which is an examination of the reasons for the lack of food in that district, which contains Jumla. Since it is based on actual research it will provide an interesting source of information and an essential tool in understanding the context of farming in this high altitude area (2700m) in the Western Himalaya.

So what do most farmers want to do when they are away from home--- yes you’ve guessed it ---look at Farming. So a few days ago we took our first bus ride. Our destination, Bungamati, a small village just 6km outside of the city. Having taken the twenty minute walk to the bus stop, ‘Bungamati jaanchha’ we shouted at the young man hanging out of the bus door as it thundered up to us in a cloud of dust. ‘thik chha’ was the reply and we jumped aboard the already crowded vehicle. Even so we were offered two dusty cushions behind the driver, and we were off to this rural settlement with farmers, woodcarvers and weavers. Not really knowing what to expect.

After paying our 20nrs (13p), we stepped off the bus into somewhere that could have been the Mid- West of North America in the eighteen hundreds. Mud road, chickens and dogs running around, silt filled pond with a couple of ducks paddling in it, a few rural workers making their way to the fields, and no vehicles other than the bus we had arrived in. And this was just a few kilometres from the city!

We opted to walk out of the very old, tall brick built houses that crowded around narrow streets, towards the fields, since that was what we had come for. What we were to see was inspirational. The images I have posted describe it better than I can, so few words will suffice. We had never seen a paddy before, a landscape contoured by terraces, but there it all was for us to admire after only a few hundred metres.

Bungamati, a carved landscape with a hand made brick works on the hill top. Kathmandu lies in the distance  

 

Rice must be planted into wet soil since the cultivation, although there is a huge area, is all done by hand. The tools used are a short handled mattock, which is operated with both hands, to maintain the terrace and build the water retaining front edge. After that the turning over of the sodden soil is with a wide normal mattock and a turned down pick. All of these jobs are shared between the men and women, even the heaviest of the work. Rice that had been sown earlier in dense patches is replanted into flooded soil, again by hand, mainly by the women. The joy for us was seeing that everyone was involved, with more women arriving later carrying their tools and daal bhaat (rice and lentils) which forms both of the two daily meals. This food is taken in the field at about 10.00am, the second meal in the evening.

Nepali women work on the terrace faces



Water is fed in the terraces so work starts at the top.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using the tools described both men and women build up the terrace front edge finishing the job with their feet

We were left with an impression of a way of life that is incredibly attritional. Yet the Nepali families showed great dignity and beauty as the women, despite the fact they spent their days knee deep in mud, always wore the most striking traditional kurtaa and suruwaal's of red, green and orange. The multi-functional patuka wrapped around their middle helps strengthen their back when they carry heavy baskets.  This garment can act as a sun shade, baby carrier or extra pouch for carrying.

 

 

 

 

Planting of rice, another back breaking job, is done by women but everyone gives a hand.

 

 

We could see that these very manual methods of farming can only be done in deep, stone free, wet soil. And there lies the rub. Wet soil is the key, without that none of this can happen. Naturally we as farmers linked wet soil to rainfall. The terraces are created to hold the water back but if there is no rain or it arrives late then rice seedlings cannot be transplanted. All this was confirmed when we later spoke to a woodcarver who was also a farmer. This year monsoon rains had arrived late and in small amounts. Consequently, rice planting was incomplete and even we could see that there was still much to do.

 

 

 

 

 

Women produce the vast majority of Nepal's home grown food

 

The first clues of Food Insecurity were starting to appear even here in the fertile Kathmandu valley. Up in Jumla two aeroplane flights away, farmers would be trying to plant rice there too in these difficult conditions. We may be witnessing the effects of an average to poor harvest for ourselves as we move up there in a few weeks’ time.