Nepali Farmers and Climate Change

Climate change is transforming the world. 

In the Nepalese mountainous areas such as Mustang, global warming has already caused a decrease in grassland and forest and increased barren land, the treelines have shifted towards a higher elevation. 

Global warming is threatening the composition and leading to the extinction of species. Extreme temperatures have caused fire and loss of habitat of various species destroying biodiversity.  

There is also a direct impact on humans and it has threatened food security. Nepal is a country with 70% of households directly and indirectly involved in farming but that only contributes to 27% of the Gross Domestic Product of the country. 

Apples in Nepal are produced 2,500 meters from sea level, cold weather and snow add quality and taste to the apples grown. 

Apples have been a popular fruit crop in western Nepal, out of which Karnali, the poorest province of Nepal, produces 41.2% of them. 

This has been slowly changing due to global warming. Apple Farmers in Manang are moving north to higher elevations to grow a new variety of fruit to benefit from the temperatures. 

In Mustang, apples are grown at approximately 3,000 meters and now have gone even higher in elevation. 

Apples have a huge domestic market as the fruit doesn’t sell it can be used to make apple juice, wine, and candy. 

In Eastern Nepal, Dhankuta was once synonymous with orange production but due to climate change orange growth has depleted. Pakhribash Agriculture Center (PAC), a British-run project introduced avocados to Dhankuta in 1972 and at present the economy has been transformed by farming Avocados. 

Due to climate change, rainfall has also been erratic, leading to flash floods and elongated droughts.  

ICIMOD’s Himalayan Climate Change and Adaptation Programme focused on collecting monsoon water, using wastewater to irrigate vegetable fields, and digging ponds to recharge groundwater and revive springs.

There is also incorporation of drip irrigation to grow vegetables without wasting even a single drop, boosting productivity, and irrigating fields with limited water, which is very cost-effective. 

Drip irrigation was first introduced by Israel to Nepal. 

Farmers combating climate change is based on international collaboration. The World Bank has financed the Food and Nutrition Security Enhancement Project (FANSEP) in various districts of Nepal where they have worked to enhance climate resilience and improve agricultural productivity and nutrition practices. 

In another case, Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment (JP RWEE) a UN Women program in collaboration with FAO, WFP, and IFAD has helped women farmers build climate-sensitive techniques (plastic tunnel farming), and organic fertilizer to grow surplus to sell in the market.

One of the most important ways of managing Climate change is using the natural method of capturing greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide by increasing forest area. 

Nepal is a country with outstanding climate change cases. From 1992 to 2016 Nepal grew its forest coverage from 26% to 45% 

Stay tuned for our next three-part series on community forests.