This is Tej Kumari Thada a resident of Dhabaha village in Hupsekot where TGT has been working with HICODEF since 2015 to enable climate change adaptation.
Tej Kumari Thada tending seedlings on her farm in Dhahaba.
Tej is 55 years old and has been subsistence farming for three decades in the foothills of the Himalaya. Her livelihood, already precarious, has been further threatened by climate change. The TGT funded HICODEF project ECCLA (Enhancing Community Capacities for Learning and Adaptation), has transformed her life.
Tej only started vegetable farming three years ago after joining a Farmer's field school run by HICODEF. Prior to this, she had no previous experience or knowledge of vegetable farming, she had never grown crops like tomatoes, cauliflower or cabbage before. This is the difference that our work is having, it is enabling farmers to adapt to climate change and improve their livelihoods through agriculture.
Tej now has tomato crops growing on one katta of land (0.33 hectare) and other seasonal vegetables planted on a further 3 kattas. She is using a sprinkler for irrigation that was funded by TGT and has been selling vegetables at the local market.
She told our contact at HICODEF, Surbir Sthapit, that the vegetable farming has really engaged her and that her land is now covered with vegetables. Tej is now earning enough from farming to feed her family adequately the whole year round and with an improved diet.
In 2018, she has so far sold 100 kg of tomato, 25 kg of onion, 50 kg of cauliflower and cabbage, 7 kg of beans, 6 kg of bitter guard, 8 kg of chili and 5 kg of green leafs, a total of 206 kg of produce. This has earned her 30,000 Nepali Rupee; around £200.
We are enabling thousands of farmers in Nepal to adapt to climate change through agriculture. This improves livelihoods and the life chances of some of the poorest people in the world.
This is all made possible thanks to your generous support. Thank you.