Until about a year ago, the women in Dubar village in Lamjung were limited to performing household chores. They would spend their mornings in the kitchen preparing food for the family and the day fetching water and fodder for cattle from the nearest rivulets and the forest.

But today, things have changed, with the establishment of an all-woman cooperative, the aptly-titled Milijuli Women’s Animal Husbandry and Agriculture Cooperative Organisation.

The cooperative has 11 women in its management committee and claims to have turned the village into a “model, environment-friendly agriculture village”. The cooperative focuses on organic vegetable farming and animal husbandry.

This fiscal year, the provincial government had allocated Rs2.5million for agriculture for their ward, Dordi Rural Municipality Ward Number 8. The cooperative added Rs1 million to the budget and started animal husbandry and farming projects.

“Previously, it would be hard for us to even see a five rupee note,” said Lalmaya Mijar, chair of the cooperative. “Now we are handling 3.5 million rupees and making good use of it.”

On the animal husbandry front, the cooperative has set up 11 sheds, seven pig sheds and a poultry farm, and has purchased two goats. Likewise, the cooperative has set up 11 ‘tunnels’ for vegetable farming. Further, there’s a beekeeping project, 10 irrigation projects, and two water tanks.

Nandamaya Magar, chief of funds at the cooperative, said that nobody in the village brings vegetables from outside markets these days. “We produce enough vegetables and meat needed for the village ourselves. We even sell them to nearby villages,” Magar said, adding that the cooperative also frequently organises trainings on organic farming and launch regular cleanliness drives.

Assembly member of Gandaki Province Dhananjaya Dawadi said that Dubar’s transformation into a model village is part of the province’s policy to turn one village from each electoral to ‘Chief Minister Model Agriculture Village’. “It’s humbling that the effort in Dubar has been spearheaded by women,” he said.