Unfortunately Nepal’s earthquake is not the first disaster to strike our fragile planet, and nor will it be the last – this is why your continued support is vital to help the lives of people living in poverty across the world. Headed by organisations such as the UN, World Food Programme and the World Health Organisation there was a well-oiled system of needs assessment and emergency relief provision which kicked in within mere hours of the 7.9 Ritcher scale quake.
On behalf of VSO I have been tasked with attending the Food Security working group, and input into the team as a dairy and milk processing specialist thanks to my forty years of experience as a dairy farmer back in Somerset. I’m really glad I can use my skills and experiences to work with communities to provide sustainable plans to rebuild their livelihoods.
Assessing the damage to milk production
Belafi, Sindhupalchok, we try to find what was the cooperative milk chilling centre
I have recently returned from the village of Sindhupalchok, where we were assessing the damage to the milk chilling and transportation infrastructure. This milk supply chain is dominated by hundreds of very small producers, who over the years have come together to form cooperatives which handle and chill their milk to sell around the Chinese border and to the Nepali capital Kathmandu.
Unsurprisingly in the district where 95% of housing has been destroyed, we found milk collection and chilling facilities badly impacted but luckily in most cases still carrying out the basic functions. Farmers had lost not only their houses and livestock shelters, but also 60% of their productive cattle had died under collapsed buildings. The supply of milk had unsurprisingly diminished to a fraction of the pre-quake amount and their local markets had suffered catastrophic decline as people migrated away to safer areas.
Krishna Bhakta stands where his home once stood, and where his six cows died during the quake. Despite all this as cooperative leader he willingly set up a farmer focus group and revealed plans to rebuild the milk collection center.
Cooperatives band together in the future
Despite these worrying realities, we also found that most farmers wanted to stay in the region, and were carrying on with their normal farming activities. Some farmers had already replaced their lost cattle as their cooperatives had acted quickly to facilitate loans, which enabled farmers to purchase cattle from neighbours not wishing to stay in the district. We were able to conduct a focus group and discovered that these small holders were planning for the future and the recovery of their communities. It was really inspiring to see how these farmers, despite the most difficult of circumstances, were taking a positive outlook – we are all determined as VSO volunteers to find a way to best support this sector’s recovery.
Fortunately prior to the earthquake I had spent a lot of time carrying out research with local dairy cooperatives. The research I collated had identified farmers’ development requirements – which are now going to prove a useful foundation for rebuilding and planning for the future. With the number of productive animals in these districts being so dramatically cut our interventions will mainly focus on sustainably increasing output, improving quality and cutting production costs.
Happier times for Krishna Bhakta as he shows us the cows he has managed to buy from a farmer who wanted to liquidise his assets and leave the district. A loan from his cooperative allowed the restocking following the death of his entire herd.
Farming families will not be stopped
While plodding home, reflecting on the positives of the visit, I marvelled at the way in which these farming families were dealing with the situation in hand. For many the emergency phase was drawing to a close, despite the daily aftershocks, and an embryonic recovery is underway. Huge challenges lie ahead, the first being the arrival of the monsoon rains which will test the temporary shelters - and peoples’ morale.
As the pendulum swings towards recovery and rehabilitation, the main driving force will be the Nepali people themselves. Their collective resolve to succeed is present in every damaged community I have visited and inspires me every day. We must ensure as volunteers here to help Nepali communities that we nurture this desire to rebuild, and our plans focus on the essential topic of livelihood recovery.
Return to the UK
Jude and I are currently back in Somerset to catch up with our children and grandchildren. Just before we left we managed to meet VSO’s CEO Philip Goodwin, who had travelled out to Nepal to see the damage the earthquakes have caused and plan the next steps for VSO activities. Philip has written an interesting blog on his visit to Nepal, which you can read here: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/nepal-earthquake
Jude, Philip and me outside the VSO Nepal country office
We are really glad to be back with our family and friends as we haven’t seen them in a whole year. It’s been even more important to have respite with loved ones after the devasting earthquakes, and we are starting to feel a lot more renewed. Our enthusiasm is still going strong, and we’ve recently done an interview for BBC Somerset on our placements in Nepal and the earthquakes.
Thank you once again for all of your support; I’m looking forward to returning and sharing the next steps to rebuild Nepal.
