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For Kuganathan Jeyanthini, a smallholder farmer and mother of four in Skanthapuram, Kilinochchi, farming has always meant uncertainty. High electricity bills made irrigation expensive, and limited market access made it hard to sell her produce at a fair price.Today, those pressures are part of a much wider picture. Sri Lanka entered 2026 still recovering from Cyclone Ditwah, which caused severe flooding and landslides and disrupted lives and livelihoods across the country. El Niño is now raising new concerns around rainfall, water availability, harvests and food security, while instability in the Middle East is adding further uncertainty to fuel, fertiliser and food prices. For rural households, these pressures rarely arrive one at a time. A poor harvest can mean less food and less income. Higher input costs make the next season more difficult. Damaged roads can cut farmers off from markets.For women, the effects can be particularly complex. Many juggle farming or paid work with caregiving, cooking, and running the household, and take on even more when family members migrate for work. Yet, their access to land, finance, services and decision-making often remains limited. Still, women across Sri Lanka are showing what they can do when those barriers are reduced and opportunities are placed within reach. Cutting costs with renewable energyIn the Northern Province, which is where Jeyanthini lives, many rural families are still rebuilding their livelihoods after years of conflict. Water decides what farmers can grow and when, and pumping it costs money. Women farmers also face additional barriers: they are often left out of vital training and expert guidance, market networks, and have little say in decisions even on their own land.   Through UNDP’s Climate Promise initiative, Jeyanthini received a solar-powered irrigation system that cut her energy costs and gave her a more reliable water supply. Training in market analysis and financial literacy changed how she farms: instead of growing first and looking for buyers later, she now plans her crops around demand.   “We learned how to conduct market demand surveys and make better decisions on crop selection according to different seasons,” she said. Jeyanthini then applied that knowledge on her own farm, choosing crops based on demand and improving her ability to market what she produced.   Across Kilinochchi District, 100 women and smallholder farmers have received the same support, giving them more control over what they grow and how they sell it. Growing food closer to homeIn the central highlands, the pressure shows up at the dinner table. For women managing their family’s food, the cost of vegetables shape everyday meal planning.Home gardens are one way families have been building resilience. In Badulla and Nuwara Eliya, UN-Habitat with funding support from KOICA has provided women and families with tools, seeds, planting materials and training to grow their own food. Harini Gamage, who runs a small grocery shop beside her home in Kiriwaneliya, Nuwara Eliya District, now harvests beans, eggplant, snake gourd, long beans and maize, giving her family fresh food and reducing monies spent in the market. Across Badulla and Nuwara Eliya, this initiative has supported 200 households, helping families grow food for their own consumption. The support was first set up amid the COVID-19 pandemic, when transport disruptions cut many Hill Country families off from fresh, nutritious food. Gardens like Harini’s now give families a buffer to withstand shocks.   “Home gardening has not only provided fresh, healthy food for my family, but has also given me a sense of financial independence and satisfaction,” she said.Many women have kept going after their first harvest, saving seeds and starting new growing cycles with high value crops, while rain shelters and other improved methods are helping farmers protect their crops as rainfall becomes more erratic.    Elsewhere in the Hill Country, the UNOPS-led Vriddhi programme is working with women in estate communities to build home-based livelihoods and skills in financial management, food security and organic farming. The women also learn about their rights and have formed community protection networks, where they look out for one another and work together to make their lives safer and more secure. Guardians of the coastAlong the Nayaru Lagoon in Mullaitivu, mangroves protect the coastline, provide habitats for fish and other aquatic species and support local fishing livelihoods. Yet years of environmental degradation have weakened these natural defenses.   Through a restoration initiative supported by UN-Habitat and the Adaptation Fund, residents are helping restore mangrove cover, with women managing nurseries, monitoring saplings, protecting young plants and replanting. At Nayaru Lagoon, 2 hectares have been rehabilitated, with 24,000 mangrove saplings planted towards a target of 50,000.   For Chandrabala Selvi, a member of the Nayaru Fishermen’s Society, environmental protection and livelihoods go hand in hand. “Our involvement in the mangrove nursery programme allows us to protect our lagoon while building sustainable livelihoods,” she said. Building resilience from the ground upAs Sri Lanka prepares for the months ahead, recovery will depend not only on anticipating the next drought, flood or economic shock, but on strengthening the capacity already present in rural communities. When rural women have the resources, skills and space to act, they strengthen not only their own households but the resilience of their communities.On International Day of Rural Women, the stories of Jeyanthini, Harini, and Chandrabala are a reminder that resilience grows in fields, gardens, and small business across Sri Lanka, wherever rural women are given the change to lead.