Promoting Rural Livelihoods through Riverbed Vegetable Farming in the Tarai Region of Nepal <Research Notes>

Agriculture supports the livelihoods for more than 65% of the Nepalese, and also serves as the mainstay of the rural economy. In recent years, climate change has induced direct impacts on natural and human systems altering productivity, biodiversity and functions of many ecosystems and livelihoods. The agriculture sector is adversely affected by climate change, and the rural poor are becoming more vulnerable to unsustainable livelihoods. Forum for Rural Welfare and Agricultural Reform for Development (FORWARD) in partnership with Plan Nepal tested the technology of riverbed vegetable farming and it has been scaling out this technology in Tarai areas of Nepal. Riverbed farming is a pro-poor focused program for the rural community. Altogether, 333 participating farmers were organized into 17 groups for riverbed vegetable farming in Morang and Banke districts. Farmers grew cucurbit species on riverbed areas. Three years' average vegetable crop yields recorded in Banke and Morang districts were 12.6 t/ha and 25.6 t/ha, respectively. Farmers used to sell their produce in local haat, local market places and Indian markets. When net profit from group profile record was calculated, it was NRs. 10,029.0 and NRs. 7,697.0 per household per cropping cycle in Banke and Morang, respectively. Net profit per cropping cycle calculated from individual household from 2 Kattha (666 ) area was found to be NRs. 15,026.0. The benefit:cost analysis of riverbed vegetable farming ranged between 1.4 and 4.8 when calculated for 20 farms. Among the vegetable crops grown by farmers, the highest benefit:cost ratio of 2.7 was found with bottle gourd. Incomes generated by riverbed vegetable growers were used primarily for meeting their household food security. More than 12% of landless families purchased land using the income from vegetables and became land owners. High nutrient requirements for crops, stray animals, strong windstorms, and long spell of droughts are major constraints to riverbed vegetable farming.
Cultivation of vegetables on riverbed is easy in terms of land preparation, cultural practices and irrigation management. The profitability from riverbed farming is lower due to low productivity and high cost of production of vegetables compared to conventional farming. However, riverbed vegetable farming has been emerged as a niche based on-farm income generation activity fpr landless and land poor families and well accepted by farmers and agricultural organizations. As the area under riverbed is increasing every year, efforts in partnership with governmental and non-governmental sectors need to be concentrated for the benefit of landless and land poor families by utilizing wastelands.