NEPAL: Tailoring technology for female farmers

IRIN - Thursday, 02 August 2012 (originally published 01 Aug)

The face of Nepal’s agriculture workforce. Farmer in western Nepal’s Salyan District who was working on a rural road project in a government-funded employment programme. Image: © Phuong Tran/IRIN

KATHMANDU, 1 August 2012 (IRIN) – Most of Nepal’s agriculture is undertaken by women, but research tailored to their needs is lacking. “We need new technologies that can reduce the drudgery for them,” said Devendra Gauchan, agricultural economist and chief of the Socioeconomics and Agri-research Policy Division at the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC).

Agriculture supports the livelihood of more than 60 percent of the rural population, but most farmers, regardless of gender, stick to the manual practices that have been common for centuries and seldom use mechanical equipment.

Women have traditionally been involved in agriculture, but the scale and range of their responsibilities has increased. “Feminization has been rapidly enhanced in recent years due to the massive migration… from rural areas, mostly men,” said Gauchan . . .

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