Changing context and agriculture systems adjustment in the mountain watershed of Nepal : policy and planning implications | |
| Author | Thapa, Surendra Bahadur |
| Call Number | AIT Diss. no.AS-01-02 |
| Subject(s) | Agricultural systems--Planning--Nepal Watersheds--Nepal |
| Note | A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Technical Science, School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Dissertation ; no. AS-01-02 |
| Abstract | The conceptualization of farming systems adjustment and consequently mountain watershed management for development and promotion of market economy is based on a comparative research study of three middle mountain sub-watersheds of Nepal. The three sub watersheds with different levels of market participation and adjustment processes were selected by considering horizontal and vertical agro-ecological variations and access to development facilities and services to minimize inter sub-watershed variability and maximize influencing variables. Selected, as sources of information included 311 households survey, key informants survey, participatory group discussion besides review of literature and government policies and planning documents. The three levels of research analysis focused on identifying the influencing socio-economic and institutional factors at household level, evaluating the land use/cover change and resources use and management at watershed levels where implication for policies and planning are derived based on situation analysis Analytical tools employed included cross tabulation, statistical tests, descriptive statistics, correlations, index construction, multivariate analysis and GIS mapping. The survey showed significant variations on some of the demographic characteristics among sub—watersheds such as family size, education, ethnicity, age of household head, house type, training attained, and occupation. Migration for off-farm employment resulted in substantial labor shortage in all locations. There were significant variations in size and distribution of land holdings among households. Significant variations were also observed in sources of earning, where livestock, vegetables and to some extent cereal crops were the major economic contributors. The variations in income and farm production were mainly caused by farm size which is related to management intensity, availability of family labor, land characteristics, irrigation facility, and level of compost and chemical fertilizer use. Farmers’ willingness for expansion of crops and livestock enterprises were highly influenced by farm size, while locations and ethnicity were non-significant. Vegetable, fruits, dairy cattle, poultry, and buffalo were among the important priorities of farmers. Although there were significant variability among the problems faced by farmers during farming systems adjustment, however, crop production such as paddy, legumes, vegetables, fruits and all livestock production showed increasing trend, along with increasing uses of external inputs and higher cost of production. In the adjustment process, formal institutions (003 and NGOs) were significantly contributing to production and management activities, however the involvement of CBOs showed a higher level of performance with higher level of participation and effectiveness. There were significant difference in institutional participation and effectiveness by locations, which was highly influenced by resources and labor force quality, supplementary income, and awareness and skill with new tools and technologies. The mapping exercise showed slight changes in overall land use/cover over 18 years period with significant trade-off among land use classes. Forest cover increased by 11.2 to 200 percent in different locations, reflecting the effectiveness of private and community forest management. While irrigated land decreased by 9.4 to 45 percent depending on locations, shrubs and grass lands were significantly converted into forest and agricultural land. There was high trade-off between forest and agricultural land, where marginal, less productive and high slope agricultural lands were used for forest regeneration and there was continuing encroachment to new and fertile forest area for farming. The substitution between irrigated and rainfed agricultural land were due to fall down of several traditional irrigation iii management systems and construction of new irrigation structures and changes in governance mechanism. Farmers’ perceptions and estimations resembled to changing trend in resources use and management practices where pressure under forest resources declining and increasing in the soil conservation measures. It can be concluded from the study that farmers have been increasingly participating into market economy in the face of several problems. There were significant differences in socio- economic and institutional variables by levels of market participation which considerably have influenced their adjustment strategies. Understanding of prevailing socio-economic setting, institutional arrangement and production and management practices are indispensable for developing and devising programs and implementation strategies for agricultural development and promotion of market economy. Recommendations are focused on setting equal priority to resource poor small farmers where they will become capable to link with market economy. Required is a promotion of horticultural crops and animal husbandry with adequate supports and services. This makes the active participation of all categories farmers in institutional activities indispensable. Creating off-farm employment opportunities within villages is imperative to halt outgoing population and engage them in production and management process. This will require effective coordination and COOperation among field level development agencies, organizations, institutions and the targeted population. |
| Year | 2001 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Dissertation ; no. AS-01-02 |
| Type | Dissertation |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources (Former title: Department of Food Agriculture, and BioResources (DFAB)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Agricultural and Aquatic Systems (AS) |
| Chairperson(s) | Shivakoti, Ganesh P.; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Singh, Gajendra;Thapa, Gopal B.; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Government of Austria; |
| Degree | Thesis (Ph.D.) - Asian Institute of Technology |