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Agriculture
Organic agriculture combines tradition, innovation, and science, benefitting both the community and the environment. There is great potential for organic agriculture in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) countries. Despite growing demand for the region’s organic produce in the national and international markets, farmers face several challenges while adopting organic agriculture.
Smallholder mountain farmers, particularly in the hilly regions have limited cultivable lands and face changing climate conditions. Erratic rain and snowfall, recurring droughts, and the overall increase in temperature, have reduced farm productivity and impacted farming communities.
To compensate, farmers have started using excessive chemical fertilizers and pesticides to increase yields. Over time, this haphazard use depletes soil fertility, further reducing farm productivity, while the chemical residue-loaded crops and vegetables harms those who consume it.
Kavre district, in the mid-hills of Nepal, produces large quantities of fresh vegetables which are supplied to the capital Kathmandu. Due to extreme weather conditions, water scarcity and inconsistent yields, farmers in the district have resorted to excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. However, they soon discovered that this practice did more harm than good. Due to the high chemical residue, vegetable markets and vendors in Kathmandu banned the sale of vegetables from Kavre. The farmers realized the need for more ecofriendly, local alternatives to the chemical fertilizers and pesticides in order to produce healthy, nutritious food while maintaining soil health and nutrients.
Organic farming takes a holistic approach to farming, focusing on sustainably increasing agricultural production. By adopting organic agriculture practices, farmers can use locally available materials to improve soil fertility, manage pests and produce healthy food crops at lower costs.
Organic agriculture incorporates traditional knowledge of the farmers in combination with modern scientific methodologies. Since traditional farming practices in the region are default organic agriculture practices, farmers can adapt to the new and improved organic farming practices quickly. Practices such as adopting bio-fertilizer and manure, use of insect traps, and irrigation and water conservation techniques can help shift farmers towards more sustainable and resilient farming.
An excellent example of the effectiveness of bio-fertilizers and bio-pesticides is the success of jholmal. Jholmal is a bio-fertilizer that can be prepared at home by mixing and fermenting locally available materials in a defined ratio. Farmers can use water, animal urine, farmyard manure and specific plants, all available locally and at a much lower cost than chemical substitutes, to prepare jholmal.
Jholmal improves crop yields by controlling insects and pests, protecting crops against fungal and vector-borne diseases, and improving overall plant health.
Bio-fertilizers such as Jeebamrut and vermicompost, made by recycling bio-degradable waste and animal dung, naturally replenish fertility of the soil. They also increase the microbial activity of the soil, providing more of the essential nutrients and micronutrients for plant growth and productivity.
To control specific insects, farmers can use a variety of traps instead of chemical insecticides. Whiteflies (Trialeurodes vaporariorum), aphids (Aphidoidea), tobacco hairy caterpillar (Spodoptera litura) and cucurbit fruit fly (Bactrocera cucurbitae) can be controlled using such traps.
Farmers can also make use of different affordable techniques to cultivate plants throughout the year. Farmers can cover the soil with paddy straw to retain moisture and control weeds during the dry season by using the mulching technique. Similarly, drip irrigation can save water by applying water directly to the root zone of the plants. Water conservation tanks and ponds can help store wastewater and harvest rainwater to be used during dry spells.
Farmers can use plastic tunnels to create low-cost greenhouses to grow off-seasonal vegetables. Similarly, they can use plastic trays and nylon nets over seedlings to reduce insect damage. Farmers can also cover plants and seedlings with clear plastic and use heat from the sunlight to control insects in the soil through solarization.
“Earlier, we doused our crops with chemical pesticides to ward off pests. We warned our children to not eat vegetables straight off the plant. Now that we use Jholmal in our vegetables, we don’t have to worry about that either.” – Bimala Bajgain of Kavre
With successful piloting at several villages in three Village Development Committees (VDCs) in Kavre District, the use of jholmal has been upscaled to Udayapur District, in eastern Nepal. The Government of Nepal has further announced the upscaling of resilient mountain solutions: one of its packages involves distributing jholmal to 14 other districts in Nepal. Farmers from the three VDCs adopted organic farming techniques and have benefitted greatly.
One of our partners, CEAPRED (Center for Environment and Agricultural Policy Research, Extension, and Development) has also received additional independent funding to promote similar practices in other sites. We are also promoting the concept of the Resilient Mountain Village, which includes organic agricultural practices, in regional member countries across the HKH.
Each of the RMS solutions are linked to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) outlined by the UN in 2015. This intervention contributes to:
