Women, Agriculture, and Stress

A Cornell student's reflections on agriculture in Oda

Hannah Wilson is a Master's student in City and Regional Planning at Cornell University. In her program, she has an emphasis on gender and infrastructure and has a background working with women's rural development with the photography-focused NGO Lensational. She brought her expertise to Oda in December 2019, conducting field research for our Women's Agriculture Initiative.

Hannah, I'm curious to know - what, if anything, surprised you about Oda?

It's my first time outside Kathmandu in Nepal - so everything is new. Some of my findings were surprising - some uncommon agriculture practices were more frequent whereas practices that are more prevalent globally, are not common here.

Now that your agriculture surveys with Raj Kumari [Oda Foundation Women's Empowerment Manager] are done, what impacts are you expecting?

I envision using Oda Foundation land as a test ground to show how small changes in farming practices using local, sustainable methods with readily available materials can make a large impact. These practices range from mulching, which can help retain water, to how to construct a rainwater collection system off a roof, to basic plant bed planning. Even in the Oda Foundation gardens, many of these methods for improving yields aren't being used.

For readers who haven't visited Oda, can you fill them in on the agriculture situation here?

Similarly to many parts of the world, Oda has very dramatic seasonal shifts with water availability - an extreme dry season and wet season - which make it very difficult to plant when you don't have a systematic irrigation system. People have to be smart about how they're using the land.

People are eating a lot of grains and starch (potatoes and beans), but not a lot of vegetables like squash and greens. In the cold season, people only grow two or three plants - two grains and a small plot of spinach.

There is no local food system where people buy or exchange food, only a few small shops where you buy unhealthy snacks which are brought into Oda from a neighboring village. Most families only produce half or less than half of their yearly food intake, so women must travel up to three hours to buy food at the closest market.

How does this impact people, at the family and community level?

The food scarcity problem falls disproportionately on women. Women are in charge of cooking as well as producing the food. Food scarcity is one of the factors that forces men to seek remittance work in surrounding countries, which separates families.

Yes - that is all important to say. Can you tell me a main takeaway from your work in Oda, so far?

People were complaining about the amount of water as there is hardly any yield for water-intensive crops. A challenge for us is how to address that problem when we can't easily - or cheaply - change water sources in Oda. Therefore, I am working to develop capacity-building trainings that can help women make the water they do have go further.

Yes! That said, what makes this work interesting to you? The cross-section of community planning, rural development, agriculture and poverty, and gender is pretty unique.

In the US, farming is more associated with men - when you picture a farmer, you picture a man with a pitchfork, right? In the US, many people don't realize that in most parts of the world, women are in charge of farming and agriculture

Additionally, since we might not think of the link between agriculture and gender, we don't realize that it's women that are typically closer to environmental degradation, whether that's soil, water, or pollution. Women have the most stress when these things go wrong. For example, it's typically women that are getting water for their households. Women often cannot access economic or educational opportunities due to household responsibilities such as water collection.

And that is part of why globally, there are higher rates for girls to be out of school rather than boys, because girls are expected to help with this household work before boys.

Exactly. We face the challenge that women are making sacrifices when it's a water or ag-related issue, because women are the ones responsible for that.

What was it like, though, being in the village and being aware of all of this?

First of all, it was inspiring to watch Raj Kumari work. She was outspoken with women about gender equality. It made me think about why I am not standing up for women's issues more in my own context.

I also took note that it is normal and common for women to breastfeed in public. We in the US rarely see this in part because women's bodies are highly sexualized and stigmatized. It made me think about how different cultures have different stigmas around women's bodies and their damaging, relative, and artificial nature.

What have you been happy about with this work?

Agriculture is aligning directly with the Women's Cooperative! These are my passions. I'm excited about that taking shape here!!

It was in China, working with an NGO that focused on photography and women’s empowerment, that I first saw the ways that infrastructure, water and women’s rights aligned. Wanting to help with this is why I went back to school. When this opportunity to work with the Oda Foundation came, it was perfect. This was also the first time I got to do my own fieldwork, and that's personally exciting.

Any other thoughts?

I'm happy when I think back to my first time visiting Nepal three years ago, and then I'm here now, realizing that this part of the world is still part of my life. I want to give what I can, always.