Page 9 - World Food Day and ADRA Canada

Towards Prosperity

Nepal

Lalita is a hard-working mother who not only cares for her husband and small children, but
her elderly in-laws who lives with them. While Lalita’s husband works as a day labourer,
Lalita takes care of their farm and livestock. Finding work is not always easy, so the major
source of the family’s income has been agriculture and livestock sales. Initially, Lalita
reared chickens but the lack of technical assistance and access to chicken feed proved too
difficult and she returned to goat farming.

With the introduction of the Food Security Enhancement and Agricultural Resilience of the
Earthquake-Affected Rural Nepalese Farmers (FOSTER) project, Lalita was one of the members
of the group chosen from her community. She received various trainings such as saving and
credit management, group management and leadership development, kitchen gardening and
more. She has also received lead farmer training for improved goat rearing practices and is
now a Farmer’s Field School (FFS) facilitator.

The project has organized the farmers into groups. Each member initially saved twenty
rupees per month. Now, with training and proper financial management, members can
save one hundred rupees a month and borrow from the savings to improve their farms, buy
equipment and livestock. Lalita took a loan to built a goat shed. With ADRA’s help she has
seen her herd increase from five to thirty-eight goats.

She shares, “I have been able to save
30,000 rupees ($310 CAD) every year
after household expenses and I am
very happy with what I have achieved
from my hard work. However, this
would have been less possible without
the support from FOSTER project,
so I am very thankful to the project
team. Now I am planning to increase
the number of goats and expand my
fodder cultivation area so that I can
earn more for my family and for
the future of my children. I am also
planning to register my goat farm
and start commercial goat rearing.
For this, I need support from FOSTER
project as much as possible.”

Lalita has been an example in the
community. Within a short span of
time, she has been able to change
her life and that of her family.

Photo: © 2021 ADRA | ADRA Nepal