It was 2022, and Bipana Bishwakarma's husband, Bishal, had recently lost his job working in an aluminium factory in Malaysia during the COVID-19 pandemic. While he looked for work, first returning to their village and then going back to Malaysia, Bipana started contemplating ways that she too could financially support her family in her district of Rautahat, which lies 180 kilometres southeast of the capital, Kathmandu.

It was pigs that provided this unexpected boost for the family's economic security and for Bipana's personal and professional growth.

When Bipana heard about the training in pig rearing organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in a nearby town, something caught her imagination, even though she had never worked with pigs before. Demand for pork in the country is growing and the sector therefore has good potential, though traditionally, some communities in Nepal avoided eating the meat.

The training was part of FAO's support for rural women and youth in communities from where many of the men migrate in search of jobs. A lack of opportunities in rural areas leads many to migrate. Currently, nearly 3.7 million Nepalis work abroad.

The aim of the FAO project is to help women and youth in these rural areas start their own agribusinesses by providing them training in farming and entrepreneurial skills and facilitating access to markets and finance.

Bipana jumped at the opportunity to forge a new livelihood. "I wanted to do something to support my family's income and be economically independent," Bipana says.

Bipana was one of 327 women and youth in Rautahat who participated in the training. With no prior knowledge in this field, she learned about pig species, the construction of pig sheds, feeding for pigs and remedies for possible diseases. She also learned how to run a business and acquired networking and social marketing skills.

After the training, the project provided Bipana with three piglets and other support to set up the business, including feed to get started, medicines and vaccines. She was also encouraged to add ten additional piglets using her own resources to get the enterprise rolling.

Purndev Chaudhary, who comes from the same area, also decided to sign up for the FAO pig rearing course. He had spent two spells working in the garment industry in Malaysia with an unsuccessful farming venture in between. He had eventually decided to return home because of the poor pay, long hours and the challenge of communicating in a foreign language.

Like Bipana, Purndev was provided with a few piglets and other inputs. The training taught him knowledge and skills in sustainable pig farming and how to make it a profitable and thriving business. He has since invested some of his profits to build more pig sheds and even started to keep ducks to diversify his livelihood.

Purndev is also now training young people in his village in pig farming, and he has plans to build a system to convert pig manure into biogas fuel for cooking. With two young children sitting in his lap and a newborn in his wife's arms Purndev says, "I can't thank FAO enough for giving me this opportunity. I now have everything I need. I could build a family. I can feed my kids, and I have a business that I like in my home district." 

For her part, Bipana is taking a veterinary technician course. Her eyes sparkle when she says that she wants to provide veterinary services to pigs not only in her own farm, but in the whole village, saying she wants to "contribute to shaping the society by sharing my knowledge with others."

Together with the determination and hard work of people like Bipana and Purndev, FAO is helping local communities in Rautahat and other parts of Nepal to create more opportunities and build livelihoods right at home, making migration a choice and not a necessity.

The story and photos can be found here: https://www.fao.org/fao-stories/article/en/c/1674334/