Where women farmers have been given access to credit, better seeds, equipment and advice, yields have gone up and the land made more productive. After the land was rehabilitated, rice yields increased dramatically, making this poor village virtually self-sufficient in food. In the Phewa Tal Watershed, near Pokhara in central Nepal, women are responsible for reforesting denuded slopes, greatly reducing soil erosion. Women also tend tree nurseries and have established family woodlots, reversing half a century of deforestation. A women's collective has even fenced off a 100 hectare plot where they cultivate special fodder grasses for their herds of goats and cattle.
Any surplus is sold on the local market for cash income.
Soils were saved by turning steep slopes over to permanent vegetation, terracing others and controlling gully erosion. Farmers were encouraged to replace annual crops with perennials, such as alfalfa, which holds the soil in place from year to year, and to diversify into small animal husbandry and fruit-growing. Since 1980, total food production in the region has risen by 70 per cent, despite the fact that the cultivated area has been halved. The relationship between women and land is a complex one. These women are more likely to take advantage of opportunities for change.