Seeds of Hope-self sustainable Agriculture Project

Growing sustainable communities, one seed at a time

The Small World launched the Seeds of Hope program in response to Covid19 pandemic, and now it developed as an agriculture support program for communities in Everest region. We have been providing free seeds and agricultural training to empower families to grow their own food. Identifying those most at risk, such as single mothers, the unemployed, COVID-19-affected families, and vulnerable women, the initiative fostered community support groups to address local challenges.

 Participants receives quality seeds and greenhouse tunnels, introducing new plant varieties for diversified nutrition. 

The project aimed to 

• enhance small-scale farming capabilities in the region
• improve nutrition for entire families, especially pregnant women and children
• economically empower women, giving them more decision-making power in their households

We’d like to introduce you to the women who have been in our program and hear her story and challanges.

Goma: 

Life-long farmer amazed by her record harvest

 Goma has been farming for as long as she can remember. In fact, her parents kept her at home to work in the fields so she never had the chance to go to school. She is unable to read or write, and even struggles to write her own name. 

 Although this 49-year-old mother of two from Tingla village never attended school, she firmly believes in the importance of educating her own kids. Due to her lack of education, she says she sometimes has a hard time keeping up with conversations happening around her. She hopes for her children to be well educated so that they will be respected in society.

In the past, Goma had to rely on her husband to provide for all their financial needs, but in the last year she has started earning her own money. Since getting professional advice about how to maximize a plant’s yield, Goma said she was startled by how much output she was getting from the same crops she’d been farming for decades. “Of all my vegetable crops, my tomatoes did the best last year,” she informed us. “They grew so much that tomatoes started to drop from the plants and roll around on the floor!” 

 What’s a lady to do with so many tomatoes?

It was the biggest harvest she’s ever had .At first, she gave some to neighbors who didn’t have any. Then, she took a batch to the local market to sell. In addition, she started selling to outsiders who passed by her village, and she also made a trip to another village nearby to make some sales.

Before joining the Seeds of Hope program, Goma just grew enough food to feed her family. Now, she’s learning how to monetize the work she’s been doing her whole life for free. She said she’s grateful for the program’s training workshops that give live demonstrations and mostly verbal instructions so that people like her who are illiterate can also learn and benefit. The program has also taught her about how to grow new types of vegetables, and has given her ideas about how to sell her surplus produce.

Just beware of climate change…

One big issue that Goma and her peers all mentioned is changing weather patterns that seem to be altering the timing and amount of rainfall, snowfall and prolonged droughts. 

Goma is grateful, but hopes for more in life

In the three years since Seeds of Hope came to Tingla, Goma and other participants of the program have all reported positive changes in their lives. Now, they’re able to feed their families with an abundance of healthy fresh foods, and their community has started implementing strategies to generate more income locally.

 When asked what she dreams of doing in the future, however, Goma isn’t sure how to answer. “It’s hard to have a dream because I don’t know much, besides agriculture. If I could read and write and understand more, maybe I could get more ideas,” she replied wistfully. “So right now I’m just gonna stick to farming and see what I can do.”

Links:

• http://www.thesmallworld.org