Skills-building training for Nepali rural women farmers was interrupted as a result of U.S. cuts. An agriculture business technician describes the situation now, saying: “Many women in rural areas are not yet ready to use agricultural machines.”
Date: 2/26
Region: South Asia
Country: Nepal
Topic: Food & Farming
Policy Lens: Economic & Trade Interests
Entry Type: Field Observation
Additional Context: This information was collected as part of The Aid Report's original feature story, "'I had no choice but to go abroad': US aid cuts hit Nepal’s farmers." Reporter Yam Kumari Kandel looked into the effects of the termination of USAID's agricultural initiative Feed the Future on the lives of rural farming communities.
This quote is attributed to Sushila Tharu, district agriculture business technician at the Center for Environmental and Agricultural Policy Research, Extension and Development, or CEAPRED, a Nepal-based former Feed the Future partner organization. The program, implemented as part of the Feed the Future initiative in Nepal, which was supposed to continue into 2028 with a budget of $24.5 million, trained rural farmers to use agricultural machinery. Women were specifically targeted by the program, making up 70% of program recipients, as they are often left in charge of rural work since about 1.8 million Nepali men have moved abroad, likely as labor migrants.
Source: Devex