Himalayan Research Bulletin

37. Poverty in Nepal Periphery

The economy in the NEpal hills largely depends on subsistence agriculture. The peasants travel to the southern plains of Nepal and India seeking porter jobs for four to eight months each year to supplement their incomes. The little earning they make, about 30 dollars a month, is exchanged with consumer goods such as salt or sugar, or even a watch one of the farmers in the picture is wearing. The oxen available in the Nepal hills are far too few for the number of farm holdings. The Monsoon dependent agriculture requires all farms to be prepared almost simultaneously - not to own a pair of oxen possibly means the farmer has to find ways to supplement the farm labor. The picture was taken in 1991 in an amateur fashion in a village in the mid-western district of Jajarkot. Twelve years later, Jajarkot today is a hotbed for the Maoist led insurgency.

Shyam KC
Department of Sociology, Iowa State University
shykeci@iastate.edu

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Portland State University Geography Department