LAMJUNG DISTRICT, Nepal — When the dark, heavy clouds loom over the lush hills of Ghanpokhara, Ratna Gurung knows it’s time to bring in the sun-dried foxtail millet. Before the rain begins pouring, she’s swiftly gathered the grain in a bamboo basket. Once inside, the next step is to sift through the husks, thresh them in a dhiki, a traditional wooden beater, before packing and sending them to the community seed bank to sell. For generations, the Indigenous Gurung women farmers of Ghanpokhara, a village in central Nepal’s Lamjung district, have farmed on the giant, hills spread around the cascading Rhide-meu, a waterfall the Gurung have revered for ages. Amid these hills and the patches of forests near their small villages is land that once saw an abundance of cultivation of foxtail millet (Setaria italica), a drought-resistant food consumed as a daily substitute for rice. Previously a staple crop in this region, foxtail millet, known locally as bariyo kaguno, has seen a sharp decline in its cultivation over the last few decades. In recent years, however, women in these remote villages in Lamjung have started to revive the climate-resilient crop, with the hope that the almost-forgotten grain will help farmers adapt to the region’s unpredictable and changing climate. “The crop gradually grew out of fashion… We had lost sight of this crop for years,” Ratna says. “But now we’re glad to farm with friends and neighbors trying to revive them.” Foxtail millet harvested by farmers in Ghopte and Ghanpokhara. Image…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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