(AGENPARL) – Thu 18 December 2025 [cid:image001.gif@01DC7021.B7C7D270]
New options for families facing migration
In a water-scarce area of Nepal, climate-resilient agriculture offers families a chance to stay rooted at home
[cid:image002.jpg@01DC7021.B7C7D270]©FAO/Punkeshwar Bham
At 23, Indira Rawat is already familiar with the rhythms of seasonal migration. Each winter, her husband, 25-year-old Man Bahadur Rawat, has left their home in Raralihi—an isolated village in Jumla District of Nepal’s Karnali Province—to seek temporary work in India.
Farming alone could not cover the family’s expenses, especially as water grew scarcer and the weather more unpredictable. While he was away, Indira managed the household and the small plots of beans, vegetables and apples that remain their primary source of food and income. She lives in the village with their two young children and her mother-in-law. Their four-year-old son walks to the nearby school each morning, while their three-year-old daughter, too young for school, stays at home.
Raralihi sits in one of Nepal’s driest and most climate-sensitive highland areas, and recent shifts in weather have made farming steadily more difficult. Erratic monsoon rains have increased rust in beans, reducing yields. Declining snowfall has cut the chilling hours needed for apples, lowering fruit production. Warmer summers have brought new pests—thrips and tent caterpillars among them—that strain orchards and vegetable fields already struggling for water.
With these realities at hand, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) teamed up with the Karnali Integrated Rural Development and Research Centre (KIRDARC) to help farmers adapt to these increasingly harsh and unpredictable climate conditions through practical, community-based training in a Farmer Field School (FFS) setting.
When the FAO–KIRDARC project began working in her community, Indira saw a chance to strengthen her farm and rely less on the income her husband earned abroad. She joined the Farmer Field School to learn climate-resilient practices.
The hands-on training sessions introduced her to compost preparation; the use of bio-fertilizers and bio-pesticides such as Jholmal and other neem-based solutions; the role of beneficial microorganisms; and improved techniques for managing apple orchards. She also adopted smaller but meaningful changes, such as converting weeds into compost during the rainy season and planting vegetables in rows to improve spacing and growth.
For Indira, these skills strengthened her orchard, increased vegetable production and reduced her family’s reliance on seasonal migration.
The FFS group includes 25 members—12 men and 13 women—and Indira serves as its secretary. The role gave her a stronger voice in group discussions, although adopting new methods initially created tension at home. When she spaced her vegetable plants correctly, family members told her she was wasting land. When she applied the recommended 50 kilograms of farmyard manure to a single apple tree, they questioned why so much fertilizer should go to one tree rather than an entire field.
Over time, the benefits spoke for themselves. The manure ring technique helped retain soil moisture and strengthen tree health, improving apple production. The bio-fertilizers and bio-pesticides helped manage disease and insect pressures in both vegetables and orchards. Many of these practices were later replicated in group farming, where members worked together to prepare compost and apply recommended manure dosages.
Reaching markets remains physically demanding. Farmers carry vegetables and apples in bamboo baskets—doko—on foot along steep trails to reach the markets in Raralihi and Nagma. Even so, the increase in production and income has made a meaningful difference. Indira has been able to invest in her children’s education, cover daily household needs and save through a village group established with project support.
The stronger agricultural base has begun to shift her husband’s migration pattern. In recent years, he has departed later to complete apple pruning training and returned earlier to support vegetable farming, orchard care and marketing. As the family expands its agricultural income, his time abroad has gradually started to decline.
Challenges persist. Water scarcity limits irrigation during droughts. Fragmented land makes larger-scale farming difficult. Erratic rainfall and emerging pests continue to affect yields. Managing farming responsibilities, the household and young children when her husband is away places considerable pressure on Indira.
Even so, she remains steadfast. She aims to expand vegetable production, continue using climate-resilient techniques and build greater stability for her family. She wants her children to have access to strong schools and imagines a future in which her husband can remain home longer, working alongside her.
With practical training combined with local commitment and support from FAO and KIRDARC, families are strengthening their livelihoods in Nepal’s highlands and reducing the pressures that fuel migration.
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