In late February 2022, TGT volunteer Amy Wilson spent time with our NGO partner, EcoHimal, in Deusa, Solukhumbu. It was in Deusa that we established our first Community-led Agro Forestry Resource Centre (AFRC). Amy met one of Deusa AFRC’s founder members, Bina Kumar Rai. This is Amy’s account of her conversation with Bina.
by Amy Wilson
My impression of Bina Kumar is that she is quietly confident, observant, and intelligent. She has clearly been in and around farming for a long time and is a great example of someone being prepared to try new ways and not just stick to the traditional; she embraces opportunities to develop.
Bina is a founder member of Deusa ARFC and has contributed a lot over the years. She attended the first coffee training the centre ran (3 years ago). At the time she didn't have any coffee plants so she bought 50 from the AFRC and they started fruiting last year. She has since added avocado, banana, lemon, orange, guava, and macadamia. Bina attends trainings at the AFRC and mentioned ‘bio intensive planting’, ‘how to make a nursery and grow seedlings’, and ‘how to harvest coffee’ as the three most useful.
Bina told me that the main benefits she gets from being an AFRC member are the knowledge and skills she gains, this is more important to her than even the financial benefits. She explained how the financial benefits are long term, and that one has to wait for them. For example, she had to wait a few years for her coffee plants to flower but now they are, which means she can sell them as parchment through the Deusa cooperative.
She also mentioned that in some ways her work has got harder as a result of what she’s learned, especially about the importance of weeding - which she now has to do (although she confessed that it doesn't always get done as much as it should!)
During COVID-19 lockdown she found it difficult to get to the market to sell produce, opportunities to sell were restricted. But when she was at home in the village it didn't feel any different to pre-lockdown times.
Interestingly, Bina told me that she is not sure exactly how climate change works but she has learned about it since the AFRC was founded and she has noticed the seasons are changing. She said that last year from mid February it was already warm, but that this year, at the end of February it was still cold. She feels the weather is more unexpected and erratic and she has noticed how crops are growing differently. She also has noticed more pests in the field but she doesn't know why, she thinks this might also be linked to climate change.