As a youngest Mountain of the world, Siwalik region of Nepal is facing several mass movements like landslide and debris flow in monsoon period every year. Debris flow is very common in the steep slope of weak and fragile sedimentary rocks. This paper used remote sensing data and GIS to evaluate evolutional characteristics of debris flow hazard in the Siwalik hill of Babai watershed based on the geological, topographical and hydrological factors. All together 101 debris flow polygons were made by using Google Earth and by field verification. Digital Elevation Model (DEM) was used to analyze debris flow distribution and topographical features. Lithostratigraphy was studied to evaluate geological characters and rainfall data was used to evaluate hydrological character. Average slope for debris flow evolution in Lower, Middle and Upper Siwalik is 34˚, 50˚ and 30˚ respectively. The average 24 hours rainfall to occur debris flow is found 160.67 mm. The area and length of debris flow channel are significantly different in three geological formations. The temporal distribution of debris flow from 2001 to 2018 shows that the trend of debris flow generation is higher in Middle Siwalik rocks with slope greater than 30˚. Three major sources of debris flows were evaluated namely slide induced debris flow, fall induced debris flow and erosion induced debris flow where the slide induced debris flow is predominant. This study can be better source to understand the general mechanism of debris flow generation to the policy makers for reducing the future impact of debris flow in the overall Siwalik zone of Nepal.

Jethobudho is an aromatic rice landrace of the Pokhara valley in middle hills of Nepal. Although local consumers are willing to pay a high price for its purchase, the landrace has a problem with quality variation. Decentralized participatory population improvement for specific market-identified traits was conducted on ''Jethobudho'' populations collected from farmers' fields in seven geographic regions of the valley in Nepal. The preferred post harvest quality traits, field tolerance to blast and lodging, and superior post harvest quality traits of Jethobudho were established by a consumer market survey. These traits were used for screening the materials. 338 sub-populations of Jethobudho were evaluated for yield, disease, lodging resistance, and post harvest quality traits. Significant variation was found for culm strength, neck blast tolerance, awn characteristics, panicle length, number of grains per panicle, test grain weight and post harvest quality traits, whereas no significant variation was found in grain yield, plant height, tiller number, maturity period and leaf blast. Based on these identified traits and micro-milling evaluations, 183 populations were screened in on-farm and on-station nurseries, and in succeeding years populations were further screened by plant breeders and expert farmers in research trials, resulting in the selection of 46 populations for post harvest quality traits. Six accessions with similar agronomic traits, field tolerance to blast and lodging, and superior post harvest quality traits, were bulked and evaluated on-farm using participatory variety selection (PVS). The enhanced Jethobudho accessions were also evaluated for aroma using simple sequence repeat (SSR) and found to have unique aromatic genetic constitution. Community based seed production groups were formed, linked to the Nepal District Self Seed Sufficiency Programme (DISSPRO), and trained to produce basic seeds (truthfully labeled) of Jethobudho. The National Seed Board of Nepal released the enhanced landrace in the name of ''Pokhareli Jethobudho'' in 2006, as the first bulk variety of traditional high quality aromatic rice improved through participatory plant breeding to be formally released in Nepal for general cultivation under the national seed certification scheme. Landrace improvement is shown as an important option for supporting programmes for in situ conservation of landraces on-farm.

Topographical, geological and hydrological attributes of mountainous region play significant role for landslide occurrence. In this study, the spatial and temporal behaviors of landslides in the Siwalik zone of Babai watershed are evaluated on the basis of topographical, geological and hydrological attributes. For this work, polygon based landslide spatial inventory and spatio-temporal inventory from the years 2010 to 2019 were prepared by using Santeniel-2, USGS and temporal series of Google earth images. Further analysis of landslides including the numbers, area and other geometrical parameters were carried out using Q-GIS. The geological map prepared by the Department of Mines and Geology of Nepal government was referred and validated from the field. The precipitation data was obtained from department of hydrology and meteorology, Government of Nepal. The state of activity of landslides was evaluated in different geological formations in temporal basis. The result shows that the landslides in study area are highly dynamic in nature showing reactivation, expansion and even self stabilization in some parts. The new and active landslides are identified every year in every geological formation since a decade. It is also found that the hanging wall of the thrust zone is more sensitive for the distribution of medium to large scale landslides. The total annual rainfall shows positive correlation with the landslide frequency. The study will be useful for the researchers and policy makers to understand landslide mechanics and to manage the safe settlements in the area.

The Siwalik hill of Nepal lies in between the two major thrusts; Main boundary Thrust and Main Frontal Thrust. Thrusting and continuous erosion of material from surface causes several landslides and debris flow problem in the Siwalik region. Debris flow commonly occurs after landslide during heavy rainfall in the steep slope. This paper described about the topographical and geological controls on debris flow occurring in gullies in the Siwaliks of the Malai River catchment of mid-Western Nepal. The length of gully, length of debris channel, area of debris channel, area of catchment of debris flow, area of gully without debris flow were found using Google earth pro, a free version online database. Similarly, a form factor (F), average gradient of stream, slope area ratio and a topographical factor (T) were calculated. Lithology and geological structure were studied in the field. The relation between each factor was identified. Gully having larger debris flow event had T value greater than 0.01 and that having small debris flow event had T value less than 0.01. Gully without debris flow had T value less than 0.001. Gully having debris flow had F more than 0.1 and that free from debris flow had F less than 0.1. Both topographic and form factors were found greater than 0.1 at the hanging wall of the Malai Thrust, where large size debris flows were encountered. The T and F values obtained from the Middle and Upper Siwaliks were greater than 0.1.The number of debris flow events and large debris flows were found high the in the Middle and the Upper Siwaliks, and hanging wall of the Malai Thrust.

Proso millet is a minor cereal crop commonly cultivated in rain fed marginal uplands particularly in the mid and far western mountain region of Nepal. It is potential crop for ensuring food and nutrition security and conservation of local crop biodiversity in high mountain region. Traditionally Proso millet (locally as chino) is processed manually on Mortar and Pestle (Okhal) by using muscular power. However, de-husking (pearling) of Proso millet is very tedious job. The traditional method of processing takes 1 hour to dehusk 2 kg – 3 kg of Proso millet for two women and cause lots of physical exertion to them. Therefore, GEF UNEP Local Crop Project in collaboration with Agricultural Engineering Divisionof NARC initiated program in 2017to design, fabricate and test electric Proso Millet de-husking machine (called chino kutak) that is safe and economical in operation for the use of the local farmers of remote Himalayan region. The model-1 designed, fabricated and piloted at Humla (Chhipra, Kharpunath Rural Municipality) in 2018 was improvised version of Finger millet processing machine. The Model-2 was based on the Centrifugal type working on impact principle was developed in January 2020.  The Model-2 was very much successful in all variety of Proso millet and higher capacity up to 52.5 kg/hr.it is equally applicable to other millets.