Over the past three decades, farming communities and ecosystems in the HKH region have been exposed to extreme climate vulnerabilities. Irregular rainfall patterns, sustained droughts, and higher incidences of insect and pest attacks have pushed farmers to rely on chemical pesticides to manage agricultural productivity.

The problem

Climate change induced trends, like erratic rainfall and droughts, have also resulted in high male outmigration from villages. While the men go abroad to earn income for the family, women face increased socioeconomic pressures back home, in addition to the problems created by climate change. This has heavily impacted the adaptive practices and capacities of women farmers to maintain farms sustainably. This begs the question: How can we enhance the existing adaptive capacities of women farmers to increase their resilience to climate change and potentially deteriorating socioeconomic conditions?

Solution

RMS’s Resilient Mountain Villages (RMV) is a holistic and integrated approach that offers simple, affordable, and replicable solutions for adaptation and resilience enhancement among vulnerable communities and ecosystems in mountain areas. This approach combines local knowledge and practices with scientific risk and vulnerability assessments.

The RMV project addresses:

• water scarcity
• soil nutrition
• crop productivity
• information gaps
• risk reduction
• institutional linkages

The RMV approach focuses specifically on women and marginalized groups to spearhead climate-smart practices by providing them with a wide range of information and resources relevant to climate change adaptation, training them to enhance their adaptive strategies and capacities, and linking them to a wider network of local institutions to facilitate collaborations and collective decision-making.

Implementation

The approach was initially implemented on the basis of the “climate smart village” concept in collaboration with the Centre for Environmental and Agricultural Policy Research, Extension and Development (CEAPRED) in Kavrepalanchok. Kavrepalanchok is a hill district in Nepal with a varied climate ranging from subtropical to temperate. 70% of its population depend on agriculture for livelihood and income. Being relatively close to the Kathmandu Valley, and connected via two major highways, Kavre benefits from being linked to the capital’s largest agricultural market. However, increased use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, has compromised the farmers’ capacity to sell their vegetables, as there is a negative perception about their produce in the market.

Introducing jholmal in Kavre

“Jholmal” is a biofertilizer and biopesticide that controls disease and pests in plants and improves plant health. It is produced using locally available resources such as cow dung, urine, and a combination of herbs. Initially, the women farmers in Kavre were hesitant about jholmal. It was difficult for them to imagine it as a viable alternative to chemical fertilizers. However, through the RMV project, more than 1,000 farmers have learned about its production and use, which has rejuvenated at-risk farming systems. Women’s groups like Shramjivi Women’s Farmers Group (SWFG) have been integral in realizing this climate-smart intervention.

This intervention is also linked to a series of other beneficial and affordable strategies that are directly connected to radically transforming agricultural practices and building resilience in communities. The project helped install an additional 24 biogas plants and revive existing defunct plants through regular maintenance. The project also emphasized strategies aimed at water conservation and increase in productivity, by introducing plastic-lined ponds to harvest rainwater and manage wastewater and provided training on making affordable drip and sprinkler irrigation systems.

Testimonies

“Using knowledge gained from the cowshed management training, she is making jholmal from animal manure and crop residue sourced from her farm. As a result, she no longer relies on industrial fertilizers and pesticides, which has reduced her input costs and increased savings.”
– Kamala Timalsina, secretary of a farmers’ group set up through the RMV pilot

“the use of jholmal has helped reduce farm expenditure by around 50%, and added significantly to her income.”
– Sarita Regmi, a member of SWFG

“In 2017, I made NPR 66,400 (USD 620) selling cucumbers grown on a patch of 375 m2. I did it all without using chemicals – just by producing and applying jholmal.”
– Sita Neupane from Kavre

SDG linkages

Each of the RMS solutions are linked to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals outlined by the UN in 2015. The SDGs that this intervention contributes to are as follows: