nepali garden

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Nepali men migrate to find work, women are taking over in the fields – earning them more money and respect.Ratna Chaudhary delicately lifts the hem of her pink and green dress with one hand, while using the other to scoop up a batch of cabbages in her garden in the village of Phulbari, a dozen kilometers from the Nepal-India border. She calls three women to help, who join the dance-like movement, bending and swaying as they pick up vegetables and lay them in a basket.”Since my husband works in India now, I’m responsible for harvesting all our crops,” said Chaudhary, holding two cabbages to her face before throwing the yellower one to the ground.WORLD PEOPLE With men gone, women shake up farming in rural NepalnAs Nepali men migrate to find work, women are taking over in the fields earning them more money and respect. Ratna Chaudhary delicately lifts the hem of her pink and green dress with one hand, while using the other to scoop up a batch of cabbages in her garden in the village of Phulbari, a dozen kilometers from the Nepal-India border. She calls three women to help, who join the dance-like movement, bending and swaying as they pick up vegetables and lay them in a basket. “Since my husband works in India now, I’m responsible for harvesting all our crops,” said Chaudhary, holding two cabbages to her face before throwing the yellower one to the ground. Her husband, Chatkauna, is one of at least 2.2 million Nepalis – nearly 10 percent of the population – who work abroad, according to the Nepal Institute of Development Studies. For the past three years, Chatkauna has taken on seasonal work for most of the year as a miner in the Indian city of Haldwani. It pays more than the daily jobs he used to do in his hometown, and he returns to Phulbari every four months to see his family and hand over his earnings.