Medical and aromatic plants (MAPs), collected in the wild for centuries, are now fetching small Hill and Mountain farmers unprecedented income - a recipe for motivating young men to stay at home, says TMI.
In Nepal’s hill and mountain communities, food insecurity and lack of income sources continue to drive thousands of young men abroad as migrant workers in low-paid and often dangerous jobs. Women and children are left behind in villages where vast areas of agricultural land are left fallow as nobody is home to farm it. Out-migration is transforming many hill and mountain villages into communities in gradual disintegration! But in recent years, TMI – the Mountain Institute – has succeeded in slowing down this process in some districts. Their recipe? Training farmers in production of medical and aromatic plants (MAPs). Collected in the wild for centuries, these plants are now cultivated on a commercial basis and exported to India, China and beyond, fetching household farms annual incomes of USD 5,000+, thanks to a TMI programme started in 2002. This video – produced by LocalNepalToday – tells the story and how it can grow.
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