Given the annual planning of the Shangri-La Development Association (SDA), a three-day long exposure visit was organized for the Group Leader Farmers of Kailash Rural Municipality from 28 November to 30 November 2022 in different organic farms in Kavre. A total of 32 participants (half were female farmers) and agriculture field staff participated in the visit program. The need to lift the economy and livelihood of the rural people of Kailash Rural Municipality, Shangri-La Development Association took the initiative of implementing an agricultural development program for the area. The lack of modern planting and harvesting skills and access to commercial agriculture markets were the reasons why this event was held.
According to the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), around 30% of Nepal’s total land is used for agricultural purposes, while approximately 66% of the entire population is employed in the agriculture industry. It accounts for one-third of the nation’s GDP and contributes significantly to the national economy. It creates a diverse spectrum of vocations and employment prospects, ranging from farming to small-scale companies. Nepal, on the other hand, is vulnerable to food insecurity as well as natural calamities such as floods, droughts, landslides, earthquakes, disease outbreaks, and insect outbreaks. According to the Global Climate Risk Index, Nepal ranks in the 4th position in terms of climate risk. Also, as cited by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA, 2015), the country ranks 11th in the global risk for earthquake occurrence and impact. Even so, subsistence farming continues to dominate agriculture practices resulting in poor productivity and agricultural commodity output.
Hence, to enhance the magnitude of motivation of the farmers this exposure visit was designed to undertake the farmers at a successful model farm/station to grab firsthand information about farming systems.
The farms that were among the finest in terms of farming style and training design have opted for HASERA Organic Farm, Everything Organic Farm, and Himalaya Organic Farm.
The objective of the visit
- To identify types of farming and ways and usage of organic farming
- To enhance the motivation of farmers through observation and interaction with the guide of the farms
- To be able to demonstrate the lesson into practice and incorporate it with the mission of SDA’s sustainable development
Methods of exposure visit
Group-level meetings were organised with the help of local government bodies. Based on that, the farmers were selected as per the interest and needs of the farmers. After, a detailed plan was constructed (including a budget, transportation, stationary materials, first aid kit etc.) with close coordination with the host farms or research stations. Taking the participants to the designated places and organizing interactive sessions with a reflection aspect and safely returning to the respective places were undertaken by SDA.
HASERA, a certified organic farm and Permaculture Learning Center is a farm dedicated to the promotion of sustainable agriculture, sustainable development and permaculture in Nepal and abroad. They conduct training courses on various aspects of organic culture and permaculture and host volunteers from every corner of the world to stay and learn with them. SDA, therefore, chose this farm as a host to meet the objective of its program and to be able to provide a platform for its leader farmers for learning and exposure altogether. A HASERA farm manager briefed everyone on the events for the day followed by a tour of the farm that took around two hours to cover the whole farm. At every step of the visit, learning and observation were highly impactful.
Later that day participants were taken on a tour of another farm called Everything Organic Farm. Throughout the tour, there was constant interaction between the farm representative and the participants. To finish off the day, attendees were taken to Himalaya Organic Farm, which specializes in kiwi farming.
At the end of the visit program, all participants and staff members were requested to sit down and reflect on the entire event. Mr Babu Ram Shrestha, an agriculture expert from SDA, conducted this reflection session.
What farmers learned in different organic farms
The exposure visit to different organic farms proved to be wholesome learning for the attendees. Interestingly, to see these farms carrying out sustainability rigorously in their action plan similar to SDA’s concept was a cherry on the cake. Each farm had its expertise and likewise the learnings!
The learnings drawn from the host farm HASERA Organic Farm were terrain farming, the use of compost and mulch on crops, mixed farming, the use of organic liquid fertilizer for plants, methods of paddy farming on dry lands, the possibility of cardamom cultivation on a swampy slope, water harvesting system, advantage of zero tillage in farming and method of creating reusable sanitary pads out of organic products.
At Everything Organic Farm what the farmers learnt was designing the garden, mixed farming and composting and the benefits of glasshouse vegetables. Simultaneously, at the Himalaya Organic Farm, the learning was all about kiwi farming, its nursery development and the marketing aspect.
Drawing similarities between these organic farms and SDA’s sustainability concept
SDA has made it a priority to ensure sustainability in all that it does from its inception. The dedication to sustainability drove the collaboration with the three organic farms in Kavre. The uncontrolled use of chemicals, insecticides, and pesticides causes a slew of health and environmental issues. Organic agriculture encourages the production of underused and underexploited crops that can play a vital role in mitigating poverty and food insecurity. Incorporating organic farming in the community may not bring an overnight positive change in the health or the environment. However, the benefit of it certainly adds value in the long run. Organic farming of cash crops has proved to give a better prospect of monetary value to the farmers.
The use of different manure such as farmyard manure, green manure, liquid fertilizer and so forth can replace commercial farming. Comparatively, organic farming is environmentally benign, socially adaptable, and economically possible because it avoids pesticide contamination, provides safe food, conserves natural resources, and decreases the usage of high input. Apart from that, organic farming is best for environmental conservation as it tackles the issue of climate change, food insecurity and the conventional farming system of Nepal.
Takeaway
Unfortunately, Nepal’s agriculture industry is still in its infancy regarding technology and agriculture literacy. The small-scale farmers are the ones who suffer from agriculture limitations. The contribution of the Nepal Government to the farmers of Nepal is distressing. Although the government executes numerous agriculture projects with grants and services all over Nepal, there are still many farmers in many corners of the country who do not get the chance to grab such opportunities because of the lack of an insufficient balance or transport facility or unawareness. Due to such inconvenience, quite evidently, agricultural growth has declined significantly. That is where SDA comes in to fill in the gap of providing a platform and skills to the farmers with a view of making them agriculturally literate. Therefore, programs like this one open doors for the rural farmers who have been into farming for years and years and yet are unable to sustain themselves. From the opportunity provided by SDA, farmers are now committed to applying the lessons learned from the exposure visit.
The exposure visit at HASERA Organic Farm, Everything Organic Farm and Himalaya Organic Farm, Kavre was very interesting, motivational and informative. The ecstatic farmers could not be more thankful. Based on the farmers’ commitment expressed at the meeting organized at the end of the visit program, every farmer and other participants opined that the program expectations and objectives of the visit were thoroughly met.
The highlight of the event was that half a female farmer was eagerly taking part in the exposure visit program. Women in various sectors have often proved to be impactful. Away from their usual lifestyle and only confined to their kitchen gardens, these female farmers found themselves highly confident than ever before. Moreover, in the sector which is becoming a contemporary issue in terms of incrementing in food insecurity and poverty, such events like this one must be inspired from the ground level to the top because this can pave way for employment opportunities for most of them. Hence, the event proved to have an increased positive impact on the agroforestry system in their respective areas.
This program was successful and meaningful with the coordination and valuable support of agriculture field staff from various agriculture farms, the Executive Board and other staff members of SDA. A big shout-out goes to Mr Babu Ram Shrestha, an agriculture expert of SDA who carried out the exposure visit smoothly and efficiently. Nonetheless, how well the participants authentically demonstrate the teaching determines the absolute achievement of the entire exposure visit program to the organic farms.