The people of Gorakhpur district in Uttar Pradesh have always known and lived with floods. What is new is the altered flood patterns, their intensity & complete unpredictability. And if you are a farmer who has a small land holding and also a woman, the vulnerability increases many folds. Climate change then impacts your basic survival needs, & tends to magnify the already existing patterns of inequality, leaving the women farmers weaker and their farms less robust. Or so it was assumed.

Till the women turned towards small animals for their small farms. They raised hens & goats, added nutrition to the family food & made money in the process too!

This resilient agriculture work of Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group (GEAG) in the flood affected Maharajganj, Sant Kabir Nagar & Kushinagar districts of UP, was suppported by PACS-DFID.

Meet these champions who reared animals and fortified themselves against floods & waterlogging, right here....

Suman rears hens, makes money of them and ensures good nutrition for her children too.

  Dukhna Devi, cofidently explains 'Goats can tolerate extreme heat.' She now sells goats from her doorstep & makes a neat profit.

Santri Devi took up goat rearing, that helped her save & sustain her family during disasters. They are her insurance against crop failure due to weather uncertainties.

Raising hens to raise money, especially when farming is hit by changing climatic conditions, is what Kavita Devi has proudly done.

This is the second series of real life resilient stories, originally featured in the booklet ‘Inclusive Resilience Stories of Small Marginal Woman Farmers’ by Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group (GEAG), 2015