MK resides at Himali rural municipality ward no. 05, Nandapata, Bajura district. Living in one of the most isolated regions of Nepal, MK belongs to a poor family. Her household comprises her husband, son and daughter, totalling four members. Both children are enrolled in school. MK and her husband are actively engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry, supporting their family for approximately 7 to 8 months through these endeavours. Additionally, MK’s husband seeks daily wage labour for supplementary income.
PHASE Nepal organized a comprehensive training and support program on non-seasonal vegetable production in plastic tunnels for mothers of children under 5-year-old who can manage time for such activities. MK was among those selected to participate in this program. PHASE Nepal equipped all trainees, including Mk with necessary skills to set up plastic tunnels and cultivate non-seasonal vegetables along with vegetable seeds (tomato, pumpkin, brinjal, cucumber, onion, radish, and mustard plant), watering can, a garden hose and a plastic/polythene sheet for constructing the tunnel. MK and her husband worked diligently and successfully grew non-seasonal vegetables yielding a significant amount of tomato, brinjal and onions for sale as well as radish, mustard plants, cucumber, and pumpkin for their own consumption.
The couple sold their production of tomatoes, onions and brinjals at the nearest market, Kavadi. They were able to earn NPR6000 from onions, NPR 7000 from tomatoes and NPR2000 from brinjals with a total earning of 15,500 (NPR) (£92) from their first production. Encouraged by their success, MK and her husband planted the same again in the next growing seasons.
MK expressed her newfound knowledge, saying, “If you know how to grow vegetables, you can achieve three to four times more yield than crop farming with same amount of time and effort”. This knowledge not only ensures food for their family but also provides additional income.
MK and her husband extend their gratitude to PHASE Nepal for the skills and materials provided, which boosted their confidence. Inspired by their experience, the couple now want to start a vegetable farming business and looks forward to furthering support from PHASE Nepal for getting materials to set up three plastic tunnels and a water tank for irrigation.
Thank you for supporting programme such as this and changing lives in Nepal.