Growing up, almost every article I read about Nepal described agriculture as “the backbone of our country.” But over time, a more important question stayed with me: who is actually holding this backbone together today, and will they be able to sustain it in the future?
In many rural parts of Nepal, what I witnessed was not a textbook picture of agriculture, but something more complex—the gradual “feminization of agriculture.” As men migrated in search of work, women remained behind and became the primary force in farming. In villages across western, eastern, and southern Nepal, I met women who had been managing land, livestock, and households for years, often without formal recognition as farmers.
Most of these women did not enter agriculture by choice. Their paths were shaped by migration, debt, inheritance patterns, or interrupted education. Some shared that they had once hoped to continue their studies, but family expectations or early responsibilities changed those plans. Over time, farming became both their responsibility and their means of survival.
Yet despite being central to food production, their role often remains invisible in formal systems. Land is still predominantly registered in men’s names, which means women frequently lack ownership over the very land they cultivate. This directly affects their ability to access credit, since banks typically require collateral such as land or property. Even when women are the primary cultivators, they are not always formally recognized as farmers.
Their daily reality is also shaped by time poverty. Many women begin their day before sunrise—often around 4 a.m.—milking animals, cooking, cleaning, and heading to the fields, and continue working until late at night, sometimes 9 or 10 p.m. In such conditions, attending trainings, joining cooperatives, or engaging with markets becomes difficult—not due to lack of interest, but because of the weight of overlapping responsibilities they carry every day.
And yet, agriculture continues to be sustained largely through their labor.
Female domain
At the same time, another shift is becoming increasingly visible. Many young people, especially young women, are moving away from agriculture altogether. In farming families, it is common to hear parents express the hope that their children pursue “better opportunities” elsewhere, despite being farmers themselves. Agriculture is often perceived as physically demanding, uncertain, and socially less valued. Even among young women from farming backgrounds, very few express a desire to continue along the same path.
This creates a critical tension: the very system that has long relied on women’s labor is no longer seen as an attractive or dignified future for the next generation of women.
What is often missing is not effort, but the systems that can make agriculture a viable and respected livelihood.
In urban spaces like Kathmandu, agriculture feels even more distant. It is often reduced to something practiced only in rural areas and is unfairly associated with a lack of education or opportunity. Because of this perception, farming is frequently stripped of prestige and treated as a last resort rather than a skilled and essential profession.
Even personally, I realize how deeply these perceptions are shaped. My grandmother was a farmer in Manang, yet for a long time, I never thought of agriculture as something I would relate to or value in a professional sense. It simply was not presented as a dignified or aspirational path in the spaces I grew up in.
This gap between reality and perception continues to push young people—and especially young women—away from agriculture, even when they are already part of it.
However, this reality can change. Through my work in rural agricultural development in Nepal, including with Heifer International Nepal, I have seen how agriculture transforms when skills, finance, markets, and local partnerships come together, making it more accessible, dignified, and attractive for women and youth.
Across different communities, farmers are gaining business skills, improving market access, and expanding small enterprises through initiatives such as Farmer Business Schools and Farm Enterprise Acceleration programs. Women-led cooperatives are promoting high-value local products like Galdha ginger, Thorgeli jaggery, and Chandra Surya turmeric, with some now reaching international markets. With stronger support from the private sector and financial institutions, many farmers are improving production and accessing the financing needed to grow.
I have also met young people choosing to stay in rural communities because agriculture is becoming a viable livelihood. One Community Agro-Vet Entrepreneur, Sushmita Chidi (32), shared that she returned to her village after realizing she could build a sustainable future while supporting local animal health services.
Another example is Sita Thapa (29) from Gandaki, who expanded her akabare chili cultivation into a thriving enterprise, earning up to NPR 20 lakhs annually. With training, improved market linkages, and partnerships with retailers, she has diversified into traditional products and is now preparing to launch her own brand.
These stories show that when agriculture is supported as a connected system rather than treated as subsistence work alone, it can become a space of opportunity, dignity, and choice—especially for young women.
Women have always been at the center of agriculture, but often within systems that do not fully recognize, support, or reward their contributions.
The question, therefore, is not whether women are sustaining agriculture—they already are. The real question is whether young women will choose to enter agriculture in the future, not as a burdened inheritance, but as a respected and viable pathway.
That choice will depend on whether agriculture becomes a system that offers dignity, ownership, access to finance, market linkages, and institutional support. Without these foundations, it will continue to depend on women’s unpaid resilience and invisible labor. With them in place, agriculture can become a space where young women do not merely participate, but lead, innovate, and shape its future.
If these systems are not rethought and strengthened now—if women’s contributions continue to go unrecognized and unsupported, and if those in positions of influence remain inactive—then the future of agriculture itself will be at risk. Young women will not leave agriculture because they lack interest, but because the system has never truly made space for them to stay, grow, and belong.
