Meet Ramekwal

Nestled along a river in the lowland plains of Nepal is the small community of Sangrampur. Many families in Sangrampur fish and farm for income. The surrounding land is flat and suitable for growing turmeric, so many farmers take on the laborious process of growing and preparing turmeric to be sold for the spice market. One of these farmers is Ramekwal Saha.
Ramekwal and his wife have six daughters and two sons. Ramekwal and his wife have always hoped to be able to provide an education for their children, but it is difficult to progress economically in Sangrampur. The market requires turmeric farmers to not only grow and harvest their turmeric, but also clean, boil, and dry their yield before they can even try to sell it. Farmers often face uncertainty that they can sell their crop due to market instability, and they are often taken advantage of by being paid significantly less for their labour-intensive turmeric than it is worth.

Ramekwal first began farming turmeric on a small parcel of land lent to him by his neighbour. Ramekwal is a hardworking man, but because of the unfair conditions of growing turmeric for the spice market he didn’t make nearly enough to start sending his children to school.