What started as concern about the future of farming is slowly turning into collective action. Young farmers in Nepal are building a nationwide network for change, rooted in the belief that agroecology is not only about crops, but about relationships between people and land, between generations, and between knowledge systems. Despite persistent cultural barriers and limited policy implementation, over 200 young people are now practicing agroecology, and more than 1,000 members are involved in this national network. In this article, some of the network’s leaders share their insights.
In the early mornings of rural Nepal, farmers walk their fields before the sun rises. The soil is cool underfoot, and for a moment, the land feels familiar. These fields once fed families, shaped our culture and gave people dignity. But today, many of us walk with worry rather than hope.
We were producing food, but losing control over our land, our seeds, and even our health
We grew up seeing farming as more than work; it was life itself. Seeds were carefully saved, exchanged with neighbours, and passed down through generations. Birds filled the sky, insects lived in balance, and the soil was alive. Over time, that balance began to break. Little by little, the soil grew tired. Chemical fertilisers replaced compost, indigenous organic fertilisers and manures. Pesticides were sprayed without proper knowledge or protection. At first, yields seemed to increase, but the cost was hidden. Birds disappeared and beneficial insects vanished. Farmers began to suffer from skin problems, respiratory difficulties and long-term health issues. We were producing food, but losing control over our land, our seeds and even our health.
“You feel trapped,” one young farmer told us. “You depend on inputs you don’t understand, and you can’t farm without buying some every season.”
Seeds, once the heart of farming households, are no longer in farmers’ hands. Indigenous and native varieties, well adapted to local climates and resilient to pests and drought, are rapidly disappearing. Instead, farmers are forced to buy expensive seeds from big companies every year. If the crop fails, the debt remains.
Farming has become more uncertain and undignified. Although policies exist to support farmers and youth, these often remain confined to documents rather than extending to fields, and smallholders struggle to meet eligibility criteria for subsidies and programmes.
Climate change has made everything even harder. Rain no longer follows predictable patterns. Droughts last longer. Floods wash away crops overnight. Pest outbreaks have become more frequent and severe. Smallholder farmers – especially women, Dalits, Indigenous peoples, and land-poor households – are the most affected, yet they are often excluded from government programmes and decision-making spaces.
Many farmers feel invisible. “It feels like the land is dying,” an elder farmer told us quietly. “And with it, our way of life.”
A crisis becomes a calling
With few opportunities, weak markets, and little recognition of farming as dignified work, many youths feel agriculture no longer offers a viable future. Across many villages, young people migrate in search of work, leaving behind aging parents and abandoned fields. Children are growing up disconnected from farming, unaware of how food is produced or what is being lost. Traditional knowledge about how to read the soil, predict weather and save seeds has been fading with each season.
Yet this crisis is not just about farming. It is about dignity, control and the future. When farmers lose their seeds, their knowledge and their health, they lose their voices. When children grow up without touching soil, they lose their connection to food and nature. And when young people leave farming behind, entire communities are left vulnerable.
This realisation became the turning point for many of us. As young people from farming families, we began asking difficult questions: Is this the only way to farm? Who benefits from this system? And what have we forgotten along the way?
What started as concern has slowly turned into collective action, rooted in the belief that farmers deserve control over their land, seeds and future. And that agriculture, when practiced with respect for nature and people, can once again be a dignified way of life.
This became the starting point for a youth-led movement grounded in agroecology with the creation of the Agroecology Youth Network Nepal, or AYNN. This network is not a project-bound structure, but rather a living movement rooted in rural realities. It emerged in 2023 following a voluntary, self-organised dialogue between young women and men from farming families who share a belief that agriculture can once again be dignified, resilient and rooted in harmony with nature. For us, agroecology is not only a farming method but a pathway toward food sovereignty, climate resilience and social justice.
Building from the ground up
The AYNN now includes 1,072 youths (647 female and 425 male) organised into 63 groups, which are further structured under seven municipal-level youth networks. We work with a bottom-up organising model that mirrors the principles of agroecology itself – including local knowledge, diversity, participation, decentralisation and co-creation. This model starts at the tole or ward level, where small groups of 7–15 young people are rooted in their own ecological, social and farming realities.
Decision-making power and leadership emerge from the base and respond to local needs, with representatives carrying experiences, innovations and concerns upward to municipal, provincial and national platforms. This mirrors agroecology’s emphasis on farmer-led innovation and knowledge exchange and ensures that broader strategies remain grounded in lived practice, ecological context and community priorities.
This structure creates a sense of ownership and accountability. Monthly meetings, voluntary community service and peer learning have kept the movement active. Each group is a space for experimentation, reflection and collective decision-making – an antidote to top-down development approaches that often fail to reach smallholder farmers.
At the heart of AYNN’s work are the youth-led trial farms in three provinces. These plots, often on their family’s farms, function as living laboratories where agroecology is practiced, tested and adapted to local conditions. Rather than relying on external inputs, young people experiment with indigenous seed varieties, mixed cropping systems and farmer-made organic manures, pesticides and biomulches.
Locally prepared bio-inputs such as liquid manures, botanical pesticides, fish amino acids and decomposers are tested for their effectiveness on crop health and productivity. Farmers record observations, compare results and share findings within their groups and communities.
One of the most significant practices has been the creation of household-level seed banks and field gene banks, which safeguard native and indigenous crop varieties. In addition, some youth farmers have established insect gene banks with the recognition that insects are essential biotic resources rather than enemies to be eliminated.
“When insects returned, the crops became healthier,” explained a young farmer standing beside a diverse vegetable plot. “That’s when we understood what balance really means.”
A key constraint faced by many youth farmers is land ownership; farms are often registered in the names of parents, which can make it difficult for young farmers to convince their families to allow experimentation with new agroecological practices.
Reconnecting communities with food culture
The network actively engages communities through creative and culturally rooted approaches in both rural and urban settings. Street plays performed in marketplaces and village centres dramatise the harmful impacts of chemical pesticide misuse on human health and ecosystems. Indigenous fruit trees are planted in temples, ritual spaces and public areas, symbolically reconnecting spirituality, culture and nature.
Local food fairs and festivals celebrate traditional dishes prepared with native crops, challenging the growing dominance of fast food and processed diets. Elders share stories of traditional farming practices, while young people facilitate discussions on nutrition, biodiversity and food sovereignty. Through these events, participants share traditional seed varieties, local foods and lived farming experiences, strengthening knowledge transfer across generations and reinforcing cultural connections to agroecology, biodiversity and local food systems.
Schoolchildren are among the most enthusiastic participants. Farm visits and interactive sessions introduce them to seeds, soil organisms and insects. For the first time, many see farming not as a backward occupation, but as a science, an art and a responsibility.
Building credibility from fields to policy spaces
While grounded in practice, we also recognise that lasting change requires supportive policies. As youth leaders, we regularly engage in dialogue with ward representatives, municipal officials and provincial agriculture offices. We advocate for the inclusion of agroecology in local development plans, and for budget allocations that support youth and smallholder farmers. We have submitted memorandums to the Ministry of Agriculture and to the National Human Rights Commission, framing agroecology as part of the Right to Food. We also continuously engage in coordination and collaboration with line agencies, aiming to influence programmes from within and push for better monitoring and fairer distribution of resources. Network members also collaborate with government agencies during national campaigns such as No Pesticide Use Week, National Agrobiodiversity Day, and Paddy Day, helping bridge the gap between grassroots initiatives and institutional programmes.
Change does not start with permission; it starts with practice
However, working with government authorities is not always easy, and it has taken us time to arrive here. It was initially very difficult to convince governments to work with a youth-led grassroots agroecology network. Ideas alone were not enough, and our voices were often not taken seriously. We learned that real work and real evidence matter most.
We focused on showing results on the ground through our youth-managed model farms, the promotion of local seeds and traditional foods, and visible reductions in chemical pesticide use. These practical successes slowly built credibility. Similarly, we made an effort to invite government officials to our community activities, such as local seed exchange fairs and food promotion events. Seeing farmers, youth and children actively protecting seeds and biodiversity has helped officials to understand that small scale farmers are the real caretakers of our food systems.
Over time, trust has grown. Today, government agencies often reach out to us directly when they plan national campaigns or local programmes. We now sit in multi-stakeholder meetings, share suggestions, and co-create programmes together, making them more relevant and effective. This experience has taught us that change does not start with permission; it starts with practice. Once the work speaks for itself, collaboration naturally follows.
Challenges and contradictions
Besides structural problems related to access to land and initial distrust by institutions, we continue to encounter other major obstacles in our path. One of our biggest challenges has been accessing local seeds. Many traditional seeds have disappeared from communities, and what remains is often poorly documented or controlled by a few individuals. Rebuilding seed systems has required time and trust.
Convincing youth to engage in farming continues to be a major struggle. Agriculture is widely seen as hard, risky and socially undervalued work. With no government subsidies for ecological farming and limited income security, many young people choose to migrate rather than invest their energy in agriculture.
We also face resistance from farmers who are used to chemical inputs and quick results. Agroecology demands patience, experimentation and learning from failure. In the early years, some trial farms failed due to pest outbreaks, low yields or poor soil quality. These failures sometimes reduced farmers’ confidence and trust in ecological practices.
Achieving real policy change has been equally difficult. Local governments prioritise input-heavy agriculture and have offered little to no technical or financial support for organic farmers. Despite positive dialogue and symbolic support, meaningful policy implementation remains limited. Agroecology often appears in strategy documents and speeches, but concrete programmes, budgets and institutional backing are still lacking.
“There is appreciation,” one youth leader reflected, “but appreciation does not fertilise the soil.” One major reason for this is the government’s dual and contradictory approach. On one hand, agroecology and organic farming are promoted in policy documents and speeches; on the other hand, chemical fertilisers and pesticides continue to be distributed and subsidised. This sends mixed signals to farmers and undermines ecological practices.
We learned that change requires consistent presence rather than quick success
Another key challenge is access to resources. Smallholder and real practicing farmers who are the backbone of food production often do not meet the formal criteria required to receive government support. Subsidies and inputs (such as organic fertilisers and biopesticides) tend to reach farmers with better connections, aptitude for paperwork, or proximity to power rather than those who need them most. As a result, agroecology remains largely unsupported at the field level.
Despite the challenges, each failure also offers a learning opportunity. We learned that evidence must come from practice, and that change requires consistent presence rather than quick success. We also learned the importance of peer learning, collective action and adapting techniques to local realities rather than copying models from elsewhere.
A visible impact
Today, more than 200 young people across Nepal are practicing agroecology and managing their own farms. Communities have replicated bio-input preparation techniques, reducing dependence on costly chemical inputs. More than 10 youth farmers have established insect gene banks, contributing to on-farm biodiversity conservation.
Children and community members show greater awareness of pesticide risks and the importance of local food systems. Several young people have been recognised by local governments as lead farmers and serve as facilitators, training and mentoring others.
At the same time, agroecology has become a bridge between different knowledge systems. Farmer knowledge, indigenous practices and scientific understanding have come together through experimentation on farms testing plant-based pesticides, composting methods, mixed cropping and soil health practices. Working with schoolchildren has further affirmed this idea. Through farm visits and interactive games, children are learning that food, nature and people are interconnected.
The agroecology youth movement has naturally connected with and inspired youth climate movements, because many of the problems young people face – climate change, soil degradation, loss of biodiversity, migration and uncertainty about the future – are deeply linked to how food is produced. For many climate-active youths, agroecology offered something they were missing: practical action on the ground, not just slogans. At the same time, climate youth networks helped agroecology groups see their work as part of a bigger struggle for climate justice, food sovereignty and dignity.
Lessons from the journey
Reflecting on the past years, we can offer several insights. Our movement itself did not start big. It began with a small group of committed young people who genuinely cared about agroecology and were willing to invest time and energy without quick results. In the early days, even organising meetings was difficult, and participation was inconsistent. What helped was keeping things simple and flexible, allowing young people to join at their own pace, setting only basic guidelines, and respecting the realities of farming, studies and migration. Trust and a sense of belonging was built through creating spaces where every youth could speak, share experiences, and even talk openly about failures.
Another important lesson was to allow youths to lead locally and creatively. Instead of pushing one model or programme, young people were encouraged to organise activities that made sense in their own contexts: seed exchanges, farm visits, school awareness programmes, or food festivals. These local actions attracted more youth and slowly expanded the network. Connecting with other youth groups, including climate networks within and beyond Nepal, further strengthened their confidence and motivation, making youth feel they were part of something beyond their own villages.
Not everything has worked. Top-down approaches, heavy planning and overly technical language has pushed some youth away. Expecting fast results has also led to frustration, and some early members left. These experiences taught us that movements grow through relationships, patience and shared learning, not through rigid structures or projects.
Agroecology is not only about crops, but about relationships between people and land, between generations and between knowledge systems
The work has also reaffirmed that agroecology is not only about crops, but about relationships between people and land, between generations, and between knowledge systems. Biodiversity, culture and dignity are inseparable from food production. We have witnessed how agroecology has also strengthened relationships between generations.
Activities such as local seed exchanges, food festivals and farm visits have created spaces where elder farmers share traditional knowledge about seeds, seasons and ecological practices, while young people contribute energy, experimentation and documentation. Mutual respect has grown as both sides recognise the value of each other’s knowledge. These moments have made it clear that agroecology is as much about relationships, learning and care as it is about crops and yields.
For other youth movements working on agroecology, our main recommendation is simple: start with people, not programmes. Build trust, stay grounded in the real problems youth care about, keep structures flexible, and connect with allied movements like climate justice and food rights. Most importantly, value the process as much as the outcomes. When young people feel ownership and connection it will flow. When youth are given space, responsibility and respect, they emerge as innovators, educators and leaders.
Standing in a thriving, mixed-crop field alive with insects and birds, a young farmer offered a quiet reflection: “When we care for the land, the land begins to care for us. And that is where our future lies.”
Authors: Ashish Thani (27) is an agriculture and community development professional serving as convener of the Agroecology Youth Network Nepal. Ekendra Prasad Devkota (34) is the coordinator of the Agroecology Youth Network Nepal and a rural youth changemaker actively promoting agroecology at the grassroots level. Laxmi Prasad Dhakal (28) is an agriculture professional with expertise on insect pest and disease management. Rachana Poudel (27) is an environmental professional with expertise on climate change and pollution. Contact: ashish.thani@swi-nepal.org
This article is part of Issue 4-2026: Youth leading the way in agroecology.
