Bhim Bahadur, a poor farmer in the rural Kaski district of Nepal, had given up hope that his life would ever improve. The yield from his small piece of land earned him so meager an income that he could not support his family of eight. His annual income amounted to just $57.
In fact, 80 percent of Nepalese are dependent on farming and forest products for their livelihoods. Already 40 percent of the population lives below the poverty line and suffers from “hungry seasons”. USAID is working to raise the income of small farmers through improved access to water and market development. To improve access to water, USAID helped small farmers in these districts install over 26,230 micro-irrigation systems in 2004 and 2005. Through this, in 2005, he started growing cucumbers using drip irrigation technology installed on the group’s farmland. In a short time, he doubled his earnings, and even grew enough to bring some home to his family. His success encouraged him to install a drip irrigation system on his own land, which he is developing to grow tomatoes and vegetables.
