Climate change is causing weather patterns to become more erratic or unpredictable. This means farmers are dealing with problems like irregular rainfall, floods and warming temperatures. This is especially tough on farmers in the mountains, since rocky mountain soil is already difficult to farm and melting glaciers cause landslides and floods. With my study abroad class, we visited the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), a nonprofit organization that researches rural development in mountainous areas.
I learned about the farming needs of Nepal's mountain communities. Since mountain communities need nutrition in the soil to help their crops grow and make the soil better for farming, ICIMOD showed us different methods of making organic fertilizer that are cheap and accessible for farmers. The first method is vermiwash, which is made by putting food and farm waste in a bag filled with worms, who eat it and break it down. The liquid extracted from the broken down food can be used as a fertilizer. The next type of fertilizer is called jholmal. This fertilizer contains animal urine and dung as well as local plant materials. The materials are put in a bin, mixed with water, and left to ferment.
