But challenging the traditional beliefs and social archetypes of women as weaker sex, Gangi Oli, of Maintada VDC-3 in Surkhet District, has been tilling her land for three years.
No option was left to her but to take on farming on her own after her husband left for greener pastures abroad. December is the month of paddy harvest in this region, but Gangi was busy with the plough. When this reporter met Gangi, she was busy balancing the ox-drawn yoke to plough her land, leaving her nursing child nearby. Gangi, who has been managing time from running household chores to plowing the land all alone, was preparing land for vegetable farming.[break]
In the course of talking with this reporter, she revealed the compulsion behind her undertakings of the challenging tasks, from looking after her family and taking to farming to feed her children. She gulped some water from a jug kept nearby and said, “The paddy harvest this year was really disappointing. This year’s harvest will hardly be enough to keep the wolf from the door for three months. Now I’m making preparation for vegetable farming, leaving the traditional agriculture as it isn’t paying much despite labor and investment. I’m in a hurry to complete this plowing as my children stay home helping in household chores with their school closed for winter vacation. If I can complete the tilling while my children are home, I’ll have time to weed the ground later.
Agro production is diminishing gradually over the years, and Gangi is unaware of the causes of the decrease in productivity.
“My husband’s gone to the Gulf in search of greener pasture after the family couldn’t make both ends meet even after yearlong of sweating labor in traditional farming. This year, too, it didn’t rain in time. I completed farming this year all alone with difficulty,” said she.
Tired of laboring for the paucity of the production, Bali is mulling not to take up traditional farming next year.
“I’ll rather start vegetable farming now,” Bali revealed her future plan. She further informed that the harvest of paddy production this year decreased to just two quintals in her 10-katta land, which used to produce around 1.5 ton of paddy.
Photo:Pratima Pariyar
“I planted the paddy despite hardship but immediately it caught disease. I had to spray pesticides to save the drooping and withering paddy plants. But even after applying fertilizer and irrigating, the harvest was very disappointing this year. But the situation was different until three years ago as the produce of the land was sufficient to feed the family,” she added.
Until some years ago, she even used to sell surplus rice after feeding her family for the whole year. Now, it’s hardly sufficient for two months. Draught at the time of planting and flood and inundation after planting rice has been troubling the farmers at Jhigani.
Bali is only an example. Most women at Jhigani are forced to take plowing to farm their land after their husbands left the village for India and abroad in search of better work opportunity. An increasing number of men are leaving the village in the wake of diminishing farming returns and lack of other sources of income.
Not only married women but also unmarried girls are trained in plowing land.
“Those girls lacking plowing skill may not get married,” said Rita Somai, a local girl, adding, “Generally, boys leave the village for jobs abroad and expect their brides to be skilled in farming, including plowing.”
As most men are away, there is also a scarcity of farmhands to hire in the village.
“There’s not a single male left in the village,” said Uma Bali. “So, where to search for laborers to assist in the farming? So we have to do the farming ourselves, whether the harvest is good or not. The land remains barren if the women in the family can’t plough it by themselves,” she added.
The hectic daily life, from looking after the needs of the family and children to managing the farming, has affected the health of the village women. Male members of the families return home twice or thrice for the festivals and celebrations.
So it becomes really hard for the women to keep up with farming, especially during birthing and nursing their infants, according to Khagisara Rokka.
The women in the village are now habituated to plow the land even though the task was hard in the beginning, said Kamala Wali.
“I can hardly manage for four months with the grains produced from my land. There’s no other option but to plow it to feed my children,” said Mina Gharti, a mother of three.
Ganga Bahadur Oli, returning home for the Tihar festival, said it was better to work in The Gulf than sweating for the traditional farming in the village. “I’m very interested in farming but I can hardly maintain my family for for three months with the yield of my land. So it’s better to work in the Gulf.”
Rambir Nepali, a local octogenarian, has suggested to his son and daughter-in-law not to rely only on traditional farming. “Why sweat in vain with far lower production in comparison to the labor invested in it?” he wonders. With decreasing productivity of crops, village women have started vegetable farming.
In addition to the migration of able-bodied men from the district, there are other factors as cited by government departments. The District Agriculture Development Office of Surkhet, the Agriculture Development Office, the District Conservation Office and District Meteorological Office mention lack of irrigation system, unavailability of hybrid seeds, increasing soil erosion, worldwide climate change and other environmental degradation which are aggravating the left-behind women’s woes.
Pratima is a journalist based in Surkhet.
news.partima@gmail.co
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