The Scythe Initiative

The Scythe Initiative is the vision of a Canadian named Alexander Vido who traveled to rural areas in Nepal and Northern India. While watching local farmers and their children using sickles, it occurred to him that a scythe would enable them to accomplish the task much faster and with less exertion.

Background:

Life in the remote mountainous areas of Nepal is physically very demanding. It was so for generations, but it is becoming ever more difficult for these hard-working people -- whose primary source of livelihood is small scale agriculture -- to make ends meet. In recent years some of the young people, have left the family farms to seek some less strenuous future in the cities, and thus the land-working hands became fewer. Many families now live continuously on the edge of bare sustenance and inclement weather can easily tip that balance between having enough to eat, or not. With the intensifying effects of climate change, unpredictable weather patterns are becoming more frequent. The means to speed up the harvest would be of definite benefit to the people.

In Nepal’s agriculture the sickle has been the primary harvesting implement for centuries. In recent years motorized grain-cutting alternatives have begun to make the initial inroads. However, with Peak Oil on the horizon and climate change taking place, it is not wise to bring in industrial dependancy to those cultures who until recently managed to practice a sustainable way of life without it. 

The Project:

The intent of Scythe Project in Nepal (SPIN) is to present for evaluation, by Nepalese farmers, an ancient harvesting implement of many non-oriental cultures -- the scythe. As a pilot initiative it will be carried out in co-operation with Chris Evans from the UK, the founder and advisor to the Himalayan Permaculture Centre in Baragaun, Surkhet district, Mid-Western Nepal. Involved with permaculture in Nepal for two decades, Chris perceives that use of the scythe would definitely benefit Nepalese farmers; hence his willingness to be involved with the SPIN project.

From historical perspective the scythe is a close relative to the sickle. It represents the very next step in evolution of forage cutting tools. In existence since the dawn of the Iron Age, by 11th century its use had spread like wildfire throughout Europe and the Near East. The reason for such enthusiastic acceptance by so many tradition-rooted agrarian cultures is rather plain -- the scythe is among the real jewels of discoveries in the realm of a tool design. Long after the Industrial Revolution was in full swing, the scythe remained on the scene -- the backbone of haymaking and grain harvesting. Thousands of small farms across Europe, Russia and elsewhere, are still using it on regular basis.

Regarding the level of technology required for their respective production, or the input to maintain or repair, the sickle and the scythe are more or less on par. Although, for the last four centuries the bulk of scythe blades as well as sickles have been produced in factories, both tools can be made out of either new or scrap steel, and within a set-up of a village blacksmith. Furthermore, both run -- as Wendell Berry once put it -- “on whatever the mower ate for breakfast”.

Though, if Energy Return On Energy Invested is taken thoroughly into the equation, the scythe is a more efficient tool than the sickle or, for that matter, the motorized harvester. The difference between the Nepalese sickle and the European/Near Eastern style of scythe is not one of more complicated technology per se, but of a more sophisticated design. Instead of employing the strength of only one hand (as with a sickle) the scythe is powered by both hands, along with the movement dynamics of the rest of the body, particularly the legs. Consequently, each calorie processed by the body yields more accomplishment in the field.

The Approach:

Objective of this project is to support a lasting self-reliance to the degree realistically possible. The scythe fits within such a mandate very well because no more resources from outside the region are necessary to make and maintain it than is the case with a sickle.

Yes, it does take more blacksmithing skill to make a blade of a scythe than one of a sickle and somewhat more training for the average person to learn how to operate it really well. But the potential to learn is a local resource and I trust that working together we can make it blossom.

With the help and guidance of Chris, local instructors-to-be can be selected and offered an intensive hands-on course. They in turn will take on the role of presenting the tool further.