Problems and answers in the eastern Himalayas
Whether Chinese or Indian, Pakistani, Nepalese or Bhutanese, the inhabitants of the Hindu Kush - Himalayas have much in common. With few sources of income apart from farming, the region's water, soils, forests, pastures and biodiversity are all rapidly becoming depleted. While government support for agriculture in this mountainous region has been poor, other agencies have committed themselves to long term support. Canada's International Development Research Centre and the Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation, for example, are currently in the seventh year of a development project, operating in five watersheds in regions between 1000m and 3000m. The People and Resource Dynamics in Mountain Watersheds (PARDYP) project is unusual, not only for its long term approach, but also because the same data collection techniques are used throughout, allowing results to be easily compared.
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| Credit:PARDYP |
Each of the five watersheds have been accurately mapped using GIS satellite systems, and information is collected on various levels: plots, households and farms, sub-catchment areas and for the whole watershed. Among the information collected are data on rainfall, which typically falls between June and September and can be anything between 900 and 2000mm per annum. Stream flows and sediment transport rates are also monitored throughout the year. A typical problem of the Hindu Kush watersheds is soil erosion, with nutrients being washed from rain-fed, or 'bari', fields into the valleys where richer farmers with irrigated, or 'khet', fields benefit.
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| Credit:PARDYP |
Stabilising production
In the Jhikhu Khola watershed in Nepal, the area planted with cash crops
such as potatoes, tomatoes and garlic doubled between 1989 and 1996, mostly
because of increased production from 'khet' fields which now give up to three
crops a year. Surveys have also shown that 'bari' fields, are also cropped more
intensively, with farmers obtaining around 1.5 crops a year during the 1980's
but between 2.2 and 2.7 crops per year during the 90's. Soil analyses, however,
indicate that these production levels cannot continue. There is already a
widespread problem with P deficiency, and many fields are becoming more acidic.
Kaolinitic red soils, which make up 39% of the Jhikhu Khola watershed, are
particularly degraded and, because of the long dry season, very difficult to
rehabilitate. The PARDYP project has introduced liming practices, using
locally-available limestone, and has been testing different fodder crops and
nitrogen-fixing hedgerow trees. Lemongrass, for example, has been shown to be
an efficient coloniser of highly acidic red soils. Sissoo (Dalbergi sissoo), a
native tree used as animal fodder, has also been successfully planted in
hedgerows to stabilise field boundaries. Its quick rate of growth (over 2.5m a
year) means that cuttings can be re-incorporated into the soil to increase soil
organic matter.
In the Yarsha Kola watershed, 200 km east of Kathmandu, composting practices are also being improved. The traditional method of composting vegetable remains and animal waste in heaps was found to be very nutrient-poor as the heaps were left open to the rain and sun. Pit composting, on the other hand, has been shown to retain more nutrients and its use is now being advocated by extension specialists.
Irrigation trials
During the dry season, most rain-fed fields remain fallow, although many
farmers take water by bucket from nearby rivers to irrigate early season crops.
To investigate the feasibility of drip irrigation, the PARDYP project has
carried out trials with both bitter gourds and cauliflower. One reason for
choosing bitter gourd is that it is adapted to cooler conditions of the late
dry season (the plots were planted in late February) and early-season produce
fetches a good price.
The bitter gourd trial showed that, although the bucket irrigated treatment yielded slightly higher, it required three-times as much water to do so. Not only that, but the labour demand for the bucket irrigated crop was six-times higher than the drip-irrigated crop. The cauliflower trial, which started as a demonstration project involving just ten farmers, was also successful and within five years, 2,250 farmers were using the drip system. "The initial cost of the drip irrigation set can easily be recovered in one crop season," says Bandana Prajapati-Merz of the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Nepal, which is co-ordinating the PARDYP project. "The technology has wide acceptance and is being promoted through farmer diffusion," confirms ICIMOD's Dr. P.B. Shah.
Future problems
Although the PARDYP project has gathered a vast amount of information and
learnt a great deal about the geology, biology and sociology of agriculture in
the Hindi Kush, many problems still remain. The availability of water for both
drinking and irrigation is still a big obstacle for many mountain communities,
as is access to markets for fresh produce. Again, the PARDYP project partners
are undertaking trials and demonstrations to address these issues. Like
rehabilitating a degraded soil, however, the development of a truly sustainable
agriculture in the region will be a long, slow process.
