Roots For Life

Category: Ghunsa-EN

  • Ghunsa – Farming

    Ghunsa – Farming

    Before the beginning of RfL activities in 2018, there were hardly any greenhouses in the village. Agriculture was practiced exclusively for subsistence with only a few types of vegetables. Due to the financial situation of the families and the distance from urban areas, neither pesticides nor synthetic fertilizers were an option so far.

    In order to continue to grow organically, but increase the variety of vegetables as well as the quantity, the women were very motivated to gain experience on the model farm and then implement it on their private fields.

    Model Farm:

    • In 2018, land was purchased for the construction of the model farm.
    • Since 2019, seeds have been cultivated in three large greenhouses, seedlings have been grown, and special vegetables such as tomatoes and chili have been cultivated at this altitude for the first time.
    • Organic mixed crops are grown in seven fields (about 1800 m2)

    Certification program:

    • 25 women have qualified for the program, thus improving self-sufficiency for 136 people in those families
    • 41,000 m2 are thus cultivated organically, some of the land was left idle before the program.

  • Ghunsa – Cooperative

    With the beginning of the construction of the model farm in 2018, the women from Ghunsa joined the Sagarmatha Milijuli Sana Kishan Cooperative. They have their own sub-organization as well as their own bank account, are represented in the board of the cooperative. So they can work self-determined while using the synergies.

  • Ghunsa

    Ghunsa

    The village of Ghunsa is a few hours walk from Chyangsar. There are paths that are only partially accessible with jeeps. In the village itself live 56 mainly Buddhist families, the men find work only outside the village as porters or guides in tourism or as workers abroad.
    Already during the first agricultural trainings in Chyangsar, the women from Ghunsa were very interested, and since 2018, a model farm is also being built here.

  • Shortly before Christmas ..

    Shortly before Christmas ..

    .. the last mask workshop went into operation in Kunikhop. The good cohesion in the cooperative made it possible to extend the activities to this village as well. The women are trained by women from Chyangsar and Ghunsa. What was unimaginable a few years ago now works like clockwork. Knowledge transfer and information exchange among the women, use of synergies across village and project boundaries.

    We are very proud of the learning process of the women, who for a long time were used to fighting only for themselves.

    Many thanks to the state of Vorarlberg and to Chay-ya Austria for their support.