Nepal is still one of the poorest countries in Asia. A large part of its population lives in rural mountainous region, where access to information, improved technological knowledge and required inputs remains extremely difficult. Around 66% of actively employed people adopt agriculture as their livelihoods strategy. Agriculture contributes 39% of gross domestic product (GDP). However, large numbers of farming families are most vulnerable and poor.
Soil fertility in Nepal is depleting gradually due to limited access to inputs, technology, know-how and judicial use of available external and local resources. There is close link between soil fertility improvement and livelihood enhancement. Improved soil fertility leads to higher crop productivity and better livelihood quality. The link is particularly strong in the hills, where nearly half of the population lives and derives livelihoods from farming. The hill farming system is dominated bay bari lands[1], where the soils are generally acidic and have low organic matter content. The use of inorganic fertilisers is minimal and farm yard manures (FYM) are often the only local organic fertilizers applied by the farmers. Soil fertility management in those lands is mainly related to the quantity and quality of FYM applied by the farmers: improvement in soil means application of higher quantities of better quality organic fertilizers of FYM.
The sustainable soil management programme (SSMP) implemented since 1999 has been an important initiative towards enhancing the livelihoods of the people in the hills through improved soil management. The first phase (1999-2002) was successful in demonstrating a number of opportunities for sustainable soil management creating basket of technologies and know how appropriate for the smallholder and disadvantaged farmers particularly in the hills. SSMP in current phase (2003-2007) builds on the achievements made during the first phase and takes in to consideration the important changes that occurred overtime in the agricultural policy and institutional environments in Nepal. The focus of the current phase is on development and diffusion of sustainable soil management (SSM) practices in wider areas through policy contributions in institutionalising decentralised extension system.
The goal of the project is to have improved food security and increased income for women and men farmers in bari dominated farming systems of Nepal's mid hills. By 2010 at least 30% farmers in the project’s focal districts shall have at least 6 month food sufficiency. The percentage of population below poverty line (1$ a day) in the same districts shall be reduced by 10% and the proportion of malnourished children and women districts reduced by 15% each. The two-fold outcomes are: 1) Smallholders and disadvantaged groups adopt SSM practices linked with improved production technologies and seize new production opportunities and 2) District extension services related to SSM respond to the needs of smallholders and disadvantaged groups. To achieve the intended outcomes, project will concisely focus on its core competence on SSM practices and work with smallholders and the disadvantaged groups (DAGs)[2].
[1] Rain fed uplands
[2] Groups of economically poor that suffer from caste, gender and ethnicity based discrimination
