Women’s cooperative cultivates barren land

Amar Raj Naharki / Lamjung: A cooperative run by women in Lamjung has started a campaign in collective farming on barren land.

The Margadarshan Women’s Multipurpose Cooperative located in Dhamilikuwa of Rainas Municipality-6 has started collective farming by taking the barren land in lease.

The Cooperative said that collective farming has been started on barren land with the aim of discouraging youth who are going abroad and to encourage the poor community who are raising their families by working as wage labourers to get engaged in the productive sector.

As part of the campaign, 50 ropanis land of eight households that has been barren for years has been taken and collective farming started since last year, said Sochna Laudari, ward member of Rainas Municipality-6 and secretary of the cooperative.

She said that vegetables, turmeric, paddy, mustard and flowers have been cultivated in 10 ropanis, while commercial grass cultivation has been done in 40 ropanis for cow rearing.

Laudari said, “Women involved in collective farming do not have to purchase grain, and since they have started earning income by selling milk, they have not wasted their time using TikTok and Facebook.”

She said that the collective farming has been done by removing the bushes in the land and using a dozer.

Manager of the Cooperative Sita Basaula said that Rainas Municipality has provided Rs. 346,000 seed capital for collective farming.

According to Basaula, to increase income under women’s empowerment, a total of Rs. 1.6 million, including Rs. 800,000 from the municipality and Rs. 800,000 from the cooperative, has been spent on cattle husbandry and training.

Ward Chairman of Rainas Municipality-6 Govinda Chilwal said that support was provided for women’s empowerment and seed capital as they worked to make women financially self-reliant by engaging them in commercial agriculture rather than subsistence agriculture.

He said that after the municipality appealed to not keep the land barren and expressed its commitment for marketing, the Margadarshan Cooperative applied and started the campaign.

He said, “It has done exemplary work, we are providing support on behalf of the municipality to encourage them.”

Janak Raj Bhatta, Chairman of Dhamilikuwa Milk Cooperative Society Limited, said that the locals have started saving Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 50,000 per month as the cattle farming business has flourished after cultivating the grass.

Khaga Raj Nakhola, Chairman of Champawati Farmers’ Group, said that this cooperative has set an example that gold can be grown in soil without having to go abroad to earn money.

He said, “Women have earned good income through collective farming, and the message has been spread that what is to be done.”

Mira Mishra Kandel, chairman of the Cooperative, said that she was happy to receive Rs. 75,000 in cash after being awarded as the best cooperative in Lamjung district by the Ministry of Social Development of Gandaki Province last year.

She said that they have a plan of expanding the campaign to cultivate crops on barren land.