Cultivating Change: How Organic Farming at Kalika School is Helping Us Empower Girls

At the Rukmini Foundation, we believe that empowering a girl requires more than just supporting her inside the classroom. It requires building a strong, healthy, and sustainable community around her. When a family is healthy and has stable income, a girl is less likely to be pulled out of school to help at home or to work. When a community learns to use its resources wisely, it creates a safer, more prosperous environment for all children to thrive.

This is why our recent Organic Agricultural Training (Vegetable Farming) at the Kalika School Project Area was so much more than a workshop on farming. It was a strategic investment in the ecosystem that supports our girls’ education.

Held on the grounds of Kalika Secondary School, the one-day training brought together 46 participants—primarily parents and community members—with a single goal: to learn how to farm better, healthier, and smarter.

A Holistic Approach to Community Health

In the village areas where we work, the reliance on chemical fertilizers and pesticides has become common practice in the pursuit of higher production. But this often comes at a great cost: increased health risks, environmental damage, and financial strain on families.

With generous funding and support from All People Be Happy Foundation, we organized this training to offer a better way. We introduced parents to the principles of organic farming—a method that prohibits synthetic chemicals and focuses on the long-term health of the soil, the environment, and the people.

Our expert trainers—Kritim Shrestha, Avinash Singh, Monika Thapa, and Santa Maya Buda Magar—led sessions that were both theoretical and deeply practical. Parents didn’t just listen to lectures; they got their hands dirty. They learned to prepare:

• Compost Manure from biodegradable waste.

• Liquid Organic Manure (Jholmal) from cow dung, urine, and local plants.

• Bordeaux Mixture and Paste, a natural solution to control fungal diseases in crops.

The Connection to Girls’ Empowerment

So, how does mixing copper sulfate and lime in a schoolyard connect to our mission of empowering girls through education?

1. Economic Stability: When parents learn to farm organically, they reduce the cost of buying expensive chemical inputs. Moreover, organic produce can fetch a higher price in the market. This increased household income means families are better equipped to afford school supplies, uniforms, and fees, reducing the financial pressure to keep daughters at home.
2. Healthier Families: Excessive chemical use is linked to serious diseases, including cancer. By switching to organic methods, families reduce their exposure to toxins. A healthier mother is better able to support her children’s education; a healthier father can work more effectively. Most importantly, it ensures that the girls we support grow up in a safer, less toxic environment.
3. Role Modeling: When parents engage in learning at their children’s school, it sends a powerful message. It shows the students—especially the girls in our programs—that education is a lifelong journey and that the community values the school as a center for growth and development.

During the practical session, something beautiful happened. As the parents worked with the trainers to prepare the fertilizers, students from the school voluntarily stepped in to assist. This intergenerational collaboration, with parents learning and children helping, is the very fabric of a strong community.

Voices from the Field

The feedback from participants confirms the value of this approach. Purna Bahadur Bal shared, “I had never heard about Bordeaux mixture before. I used to think that chemical fertilizer was the most essential thing for plants. Through this program, I learned how to prepare organic fertilizer and realized that it can also be very helpful in agriculture.”

Bindu Dimdung added, “The training is very useful for us; it gives us knowledge to produce agriculture without chemicals and reduce the possible diseases.”

A Heartfelt Thank You

We extend our deepest gratitude to our partners, AllPeopleBeHappy, for making this possible. Their belief in our holistic vision allows us to extend our impact beyond the classroom and into the very soil that sustains these communities. Their support helps us ensure that the parents of the children we serve have the tools and knowledge they need to build a secure and healthy future.

When a farmer learns to nurture the soil without poison, a family eats better. When a family eats better, a mother worries less. And when a mother worries less, her daughter can focus on her studies, dream bigger, and reach higher.

This is how we empower girls. Not just one student at a time, but one community, one family, and one organic farm at a time.

Check out the photos of this program (Flickr)