Climatic variability and livelihood of rural farmers in Chisapani, Ramechhap, Nepal

Abstract

Agriculture is the mainstay of livelihood of the people in rural Nepal. Any perturbations in agriculture stemming from climatic and/or non-climatic factors can affect their livelihood. Farmers keep on exploring alternative practices in agriculture to adapt to increasing uncertainties and some of which can be scaled out to enhance resilience of the agricultural system. An exploratory study was done in one of the most vulnerable districts of Nepal, Ramechhap. The objective was to assess the effects of local livelihood owing to climatic variability. Ninety-one farm households were selected using purposive random sampling and information was collected through semi-structured questionnaire along with key informant interviews and focus group discussions. Historical weather data, particularly of rainfall, were analyzed to see the rainfall pattern and linked to agriculture production over time. Almost nine out of 10 farm families were marginal farmers and 60% of the household face food deficit half a year. Most of the respondents reported changes in climate and agriculture production practices. Historical rainfall data confirmed that the rainfall trend was declining by 13.77 mm per year. The average rainfall of the nearest station (Manthali) was 1008 mm, which is almost half of the national average. Since rain-fed farming predominates in the area, drought events have negatively affected agriculture and local livelihood. Due to drought 18% of the paddy land was converted to Bari land. Similarly, cold spells along with increasing foggy days aggravated the occurrence of pest and diseases affecting winter crops far more than what it used to be. Landraces of many crops had disappeared and new invasive species started appearing in the farmlands. Farmers had shifted from large animals to smaller ones as a coping strategy. Adoption of new crop varieties, crop rotation, rainwater harvesting and use of plastic tunnel in vegetable farming were the major new practices introduced in the area which have a greater potential for out- and up-scaling. However, strong institutional supports are required to build stakeholders (including farmers) capacity to experiment with adaptive strategies.

Estimating Climate Change’s Impacts on the Recharge of an Ungauged Tropical Aquifer (Togolese Coastal Sedimentary Basin)

“…The risk of deficit is, for its part, accentuated due to the overexploitation of water resources already observed in many regions of the world [14][15][16][17]. The impacts of climate change also manifest themselves on a social [18,19] and economic level, with the weakening of production systems [20][21][22], particularly in agriculture [23]. They are also illustrated by the increase in drilling costs, the reduction in well yields [24], and threats to ecosystems [25,26].…”

Extraction and characterization of cellulose from invasive weeds from central Nepal: A potential prospect of environmental management

“…Climate warming has been very much significant in different parts of central Himalaya including the sample collection area of this research (Manthali, Ramechhap: Bagmati Province), known to be one of the drought prone areas in Nepal [24, 17]. There has been higher invasion of IAPS along agricultural land, threatening soil fertility, crop productivity and the existence of native plant species [24].…”

“…Himalayan region is experiencing drought episodes associated with rapid warming of temperatures and increasing uncertainties in rainfall patterns [6]. And it is seen that drought has the ability to enhance the diversity and abundance of IAPS in a number of habitats, which is typically mediated by the presence of disturbance factors [24]. Hence human disturbance, increasing drought and invasion of IAPS can be impactful to the ecosystem, and the management of IAPS has been highly critical for securing agricultural productivity and sustainable management of biological resources.…”

“…It is seen that drought has the ability to enhance the diversity and abundance of invasive plant species in a number of habitats, which is typically mediated by the presence of disturbances [15]. Climate warming has been very much significant in different parts of central Himalaya including the sample collection area of this research (Manthali, Ramechhap: Bagmati Province), known to be one of the drought prone areas in Nepal [24, 17]. There has been higher invasion of IAPS along agricultural land, threatening soil fertility, crop productivity and the existence of native plant species [24].…”