Nepal is culturally an agriculture based country. One third of GDP comes from agriculture and there are numerous opportunities in agriculture mainly because of varied agro-climate prevailed in the country. Niche specific commodities that have comparative advantage could be produced in fair quantity to meet the demand of huge market of neighboring India and China as purchasing capacity of people in those countries has improved markedly mainly for quality agriculture commodities. Trade deficit, food insecurity, income generation, poverty reduction, and employment generation could be addressed by turning present status of subsistence agriculture into robust, vibrant and commercial agriculture through technology led agro-industrialization. There are agro-commodities which are imported from India and other countries in huge quantity by the scarce hard currency earned through remittance. Evidence shows that almost 70% of the remittance is spent for agriculture commodities which have high potentiality to produce within the country even after local consumption. Such produce could be exported to other countries to mitigate trade imbalance, enhance export promotion and import reduction and promote graduating Nepal from LDC to DC within the stipulated time frame as proposed a couple of years ago by the government of Nepal. Nepal should come up with functional, pragmatic and implementable agriculture plan and policy to harness huge possibility of agriculture commercialization to meet the consumption demand per se within and outside the country. This paper highlights to address prospects and limitations of agriculture commercialization and suggests some way forward to make agriculture more vibrant and robust to address trade deficit, food and nutritional insecurity and livelihood enhancement of Nepalese as a whole thereby Nepal can tailor her pace of development with neighboring countries to meet the aspiration of Nepalese in the 21st century.Agronomy Journal of Nepal (Agron JN) vol. 4, 2016, Page: 38-63
Jumla is one of the 75 districts in the midwestern hills of Nepal. Rice (Oryza sativa L) cultivation in Jumla ranges from 2,400 to 3,050 m altitude, which is the highest elevation in the world. The highest elevation at 3,050 m is Chhumjul of Jumla, a record altitude, where rice is cultivated in Nepal. Jumli Marshi, a Japonica variety of indigenous rice, having cold tolerant gene, is probably cultivated since 1,300 years ago in Jumla in the bank of the Tila river. Improved rice varieties were tested in the Jumla valley by the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC). In 2002, two improved rice varieties Chandannath-1 and Chandannath-3 were released for temperate region of Jumla and Karnali zone. Productivity of rice in Jumla is 1.7 mt/ha almost 40% lower than that of national average of 2.97 t/ha. Low productivity of rice is mainly due to the constraints of many biotic, abiotic and socio-economic factors. Food security in the food deficit region of the Karnali zone could be sustained by increasing rice productivity in the Jumla region where perennial irrigation is available round the year. Whole of the Jumla region is unique place with respect to rice cultivation in the highest altitude of the world. The practice of rice cultivation in Jumla could be a remarkable activity for boosting agro-tourism in the agrarian country like Nepal. Rice cultivation in Jumla is quite unique from the rice cultivation even in the same range of temperate region. Such a typical organic rice production system in the highest elevation of the world needs immediate attention of all institutions and authorities concerned to conserve it for the future generation as well. Jumla, the temperate region, is also affected by the impact of global warming thereby receding water level in the Tila river and its tributaries flowing in the Jumla valleys during rice growing season (March - October). Attempts have been made to document ethno-culture, socio-economic and cultural practices of rice cultivation in the highest elevation in the world. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ajn.v2i0.7519 Agronomy Journal of Nepal (Agron JN) Vol. 2: 2011 pp.31-41
Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a staple crop of Nepal and is directly associated with ample water and minimum fluctuation of temperature that could affect on its production. Jumla is the unique place where rice is cultivated in the highest altitude (3000 m) in the world. To find out changes in rice production due to climatic effect, six VDCs of Jumla were chosen for the study. Household survey, participatory rapid appraisal, farmers' group discussions and desk review were used for collecting data. Rice varieties Chandannath-1 andChandannath-3 were disseminated by the formal seed system with the aim of increasing rice productivity. Despite the replacement of local varieties by improved ones the production trend seems to be stagnant. One of the factors on stagnant of rice production in Jumla is due to the lack of desirable variety with genetic traits of early maturity, less nutrient requirement compared to Jumli Marshi to cope up with the climate congruently supporting to cultural practices regarding the unique rice production systems of Jumla.
Climate change is a complex phenomenon. Now climate change has become a buzz word in general and particular to agriculture and food security. It is true for developing countries where there is a dearth of information to support and reject such a complex phenomena of this universally important aspect of nature. Climate change is as unpredictable as the movement of a bird in the sky that even an ornithologist cannot predict the movement of a falcon that is swinging in the air and so is the case of climate change even for meteorologists working in the World Meteorological Station. The main concern about climate change and food security is that changing climatic conditions can initiate a vicious circle where infectious diseases cause or compound hunger, which, in turn, make the affected populations more susceptible to infectious disease. The result can be a substantial decline in labor productivity and an increase in poverty and even mortality. Essentially all manifestations of climate change, such as drought, higher temperatures, or heavy rainfalls could have an impact on the disease pressure on plants and animals. Also, climate change could affect food safety and food security. It is anticipated that due to climate change many flora and fauna including humans, higher plants and animals will face new diseases due to easily expansion of diseases causing epidemic cycle making more favorable to pathogens in different parts of the world. There will be a continuous outbreak of such diseases making hunger and malnutrition more severe than ever and consequently affect for important food commodities due to changing climate of tropical, temperate and equatorial zones, the main biodiversity zones for population and food production as well. Hence, this paper tries to provide a brief review on climate change with respect to food security and crop production, which, ultimately, could suggest agronomic measures to mitigate the impacts of climate change and adopt vagaries of climate change in the days ahead for an agrarian country like Nepal.
In Nepal, impacts of climate change can be observed in varying levels of climate that are prevalent in diversified topography and vegetation. Broadly speaking, there are impacts of climate change in the Terai lowlands, the mid-hill valleys and mountains, and in the high Himalayas. Nepal is a unique climatic laboratory for studying the impacts of climate change.Sixty-five percent of the Nepalese people engage in agriculture and more than 32% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) comes from it. There are evidences of climate change in frequently changing monsoonal patterns resulting in droughts, floods, landslides, and other unexpected results that impair subsistence agriculture systems in the country. As a result, there is chronic food shortage in remote hills, and in the mountains, and the Terai, the grain bowl of Nepal, has been hit by food shortage. To date, around 3.9 million people have suffered from hunger and poverty. There are reports that major food crops of rice, maize, and wheat production have declined due to changes in monsoon patterns, insurgence of new pests, and decline in soil productivity. Efforts have been initiated to adopt drought and pest tolerant varieties, changes in planting time, and method of plantings as strategies for adaptation to climate change in agriculture. This paper attempts to highlight adaptation as a strategy to address issues of climate changes from the perspective of Nepalese agriculture.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/hn.v11i1.7219 Hydro Nepal Special Issue: Conference Proceedings 2012 pp.81-85
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