Jitendra Thapa. A tooth in one hand. A green handkerchief on the head. And Hira Rawat of Vadapokhara is busy cutting vegetables in the garden with scissors in her other hand. Rawat, who has reached the age of 35, reaches the field near the house without light. Dailekh's Dullu Municipality-2 Ward Pokhara's Hira Rawat's life has been like this. Most of his time is spent between making vegetable Godmel and sleeping. From early morning till late in the evening, he seems to be busy with the work of plucking vegetables, picking the fruits, applying water and sowing the seeds. Four years ago, he started cultivating vegetables on a small plot of land for his own food.
Sosec Nepal, a leading non-governmental organization in solving the problems of the backward communities, finding out the problems of the rural communities, has changed Hira's daily life after teaching them to produce vegetables together with agricultural materials in vegetable production. Hira, who planted vegetables on one side to eat only herself, has now grown lots of vegetables on three acres of land. In his garden, he has now produced all kinds of vegetables from cabbage, banta, tomatoes, khorsani, onions, bitter gourds, rye vegetables. He says that Hira, who saw the future in vegetables, spent all his time in vegetable production. He says that he used to grow vegetables traditionally and started growing vegetables commercially. Earlier, traditionally, we used to plant vegetables along with cash crops and it would have been good," he said, "maybe due to the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, cash crops seemed to have some production, but the vegetables were prone to pests and rotting. Now, after starting commercial vegetable cultivation with climate-sustaining agricultural technology, both production and income have been good.
Earlier, because he had no knowledge about vegetable production, he did not produce vegetables as expected. He says that if there were no vegetables, he would have to eat market noodles or soybeans (vegetables found in the market after packing Nutella or oil or soy beans remaining after extracting milk), which are not considered good for health, but now he has started eating organic vegetables from his own garden. After starting commercial vegetable farming, his daily life has changed and he has become independent. Before, even if she had to bring something to eat, she did not have money and had to depend on her husband,' she said, 'Now after starting commercial vegetable farming, I have sold vegetables to fulfill the wishes of my family.'
48-year-old Dharma Bahadur Thapa of the same place also started commercial vegetable farming four years ago. He is also the President of Bhagwati Ward Pokhara Farmers Group. Now 42 farmers are members of this group. At one time, he used to grow cash crops traditionally and was happy to see a good yield. Whenever cash crops were produced. Apart from that, the production of other seasonal crops was also good. After that, he became worried when he started to feel that the production was gradually decreasing. Thinking that it is not systematic, he started to increase the use of pesticides. He had to worry about the decrease in production due to the use of pesticides. While looking for a way to increase the fertility of the soil, he abandoned the use of pesticides and started using home-produced compost, including Jhol fertilizer 1, 2, 3. Shahi, who was looking for a way to increase the growing power of the soil, got Sose's support, now his production has also increased and his health is also healthy. He says that after Sosek Nepal taught him how to produce vegetables using climate adaptation agricultural techniques, he was as happy as before when the production started to increase. He said, "Instead of using pesticides, I have adopted the method of using biological pesticides to control diseases and pests in vegetable crops."
48-year-old Dharma Bahadur Thapa of Dullu Municipality-2 Ward Pokhara of Dailekh Since he began to grow vegetables commercially, after he stopped using pesticides available in the market, his vegetable production has also increased. "Earlier, I thought that vegetables would not be produced if pesticides were applied, but now I understand that even without pesticides, vegetables will grow more," he said.
Before, we did not have a good idea of when to plant vegetables,' said Thapa, 'Now we are growing vegetables as we join the group. After getting the support of Sosek Nepal, they understood our situation and taught us various skills and made us self-reliant. Now the agricultural technician also comes to our farm and gives advice.
We are proceeding according to the technical advice. Sosec Nepal selected farmers and got 12 paved tunnels, 35 unpaved tunnels and 25 tunnels. After planting vegetables in the tunnel, the production is also increasing.
Avoid of government employees
He says that while the organization's agricultural technicians visit the farmers' houses and look at the farmers' agricultural problems, they do not even see the face of the government's agricultural technicians. This is the main reason why Nepal is lagging behind despite being an agricultural country," he said. Our servant, whom we have paid taxes and paid a salary, has been basking in the sun of which sun?'
Thapa, who cultivates commercial vegetables on about 4 ropani land, has been planting seasonal vegetables such as cauliflower and cabbage. After implementation of the Smart Agricultural Village program with the support of Sosek Nepal, not only Hira Rawat and Dharma Bahadur Thapa but also Vadapokhara village has become involved in vegetable farming. Hikmend Majhi, an agricultural technician from Sosek Nepal, who started commercial farming through farmers' groups in Dullu Municipality Ward No. 2, 3, 4 and 9, says. According to him, there are Bhagwati Ward Pokhara Farmers Group and Taria Bemousami Vegetable Production Group of Dullu Municipality Ward No.-2.
Similarly, Mulpani Farmers Group of Ward No.-3, Bhandari Tol Multi-Purpose Farmers Group of Ward No.-4 and Kalika Dalit Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Cooperative Group of Ward No.9 have started the Smart Agriculture Village Program in Payadura. Farmers of Bada Pokhara, Taria, Suwachda, Bhandari Tol, Pali, Payadura in Dullu municipality area have now abandoned traditional farming and are attracted towards seasonal and off-season vegetable farming.
Technical Majhi says that after the implementation of the Smart Agricultural Village Program by the Green Karnali Project run by DCA Nepal's economic support in Dullu Municipality area, the farmers of this area have turned towards modern and technology-friendly commercial agriculture.
After the implementation of the Smart Agriculture Village program, the farmers here have started producing organic vegetables. Hikmend Majhi, an agricultural technician from Sosec Nepal, says that the farmers here stopped using chemical pesticides and started using organic fertilizers 1, 2, 3.
He said that from the fiscal year 2079-80, 120 farmers have engaged in seasonal and non-seasonal vegetable farming through the Smart Agricultural Village Program implemented in the Dullu Municipality area. Out of which 40 people have been cultivating vegetables in paved plastic tunnels, while 80 people have cultivated commercial vegetables in raw plastic tunnels.
After the implementation of the Smart Agricultural Village program, the farmers here are becoming self-sufficient. Farmers say that after becoming self-sufficient through commercial vegetable cultivation, it is easier for the family to raise and teach. Farmers are saving through the group even if they are doing commercial agriculture.
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