1. Identification and Integrating FSF into Farming
Systems to Harness high Potential of FSF for
Mountain Agriculture in Nepal
Madan Bhatta
Former Director of National Genebank, Nepal

2. High Hill, >2000m
Mid Hill, 1000-2000m
Plains (Tarai), 60-1000m
Total Area 147,181
sq km
Agro-eco-zones
➢ Plain= 23%
➢ Hills= 42%
➢ Mountain=35%
Altitude range: 60 - 8848 m
Crop cultivation range: 60 – 4700 m
Introduction

3. Population structure as of 2018
Total population 29,665,114 100%
Male population 14,713,995 49.6%
Female population 14,951,119 50.27%
Plain (Terai) 14,912,652 50.4%
Hills 12,785,664 43.1%
Mountain 1,996,462 6.73%
Population density 199/sqm

4. Food and nutrition security in Nepal.
Indicator National
Average (%)
Mountains
(%)
Hills
(%)
Food insecure households (%) 50.8 59.5 52.8
Prevalence of underweight
Women (aged 15–49 years)
18.2 16.5 12.4
Stunting (%) height,
(Children below age 5)
40.5 52.9 42.1
Wasting (%), Weight for
height, (children below age 5)
10.9 10.9 10.6
Underweight (%), weight for age
(Children below age 5)
28.8 35.9 26.6
Source: Lipy Adhikari, Abid Hussain and Golam Rasul, 2017, Ministry of
Health and Population, Nepal, 2011.

5. Major Crops by eco-zones of Nepal
Eco-zones Climate Major Crops grown
1. Plain (Terai) Hot, humid Rice, Wheat, Maize, Legumes,
Oil seeds
2. Hills Cool, humid
Cool, dry
Rice, Wheat, Maize, Millet,
Amaranth, Common
buckwheat, Beans, Barley, Rice
beans
3. High
Mountain
Cool, humid
Cool, dry
Tartary buckwheat, Millet,
Proso millet, Naked barley,
Amaranth , Potato and cold
tolerant rice

6. Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Zone
Buckwheat Rice Buckwheat Mid hills
Maize Buckwheat Mid hills
Buckwheat Finger millet Hid hills
Maize + Soybean Buckwheat Mid hills
Naked barley Buckwheat Naked barley Mountain
Wheat Buckwheat Wheat Mountain
Potato Buckwheat Mountain
Wheat
Buckwheat
Buckwheat Wheat Mountain
Wheat
Buckwheat Finger Millet Mountain
Buck
wheat
Mungbean Rice Buckwheat Terai
Major cropping systems in the hills and mountain

7. Characteristics of Mountain and hill Farming System
- A close integration between crops,
livestock, and forest
- A high degree of slope and difficult
for management
- Small land holdings (0.025-0.051 ha)
- A high labor input

8. Characteristics ----
- A high degree of subsistence
- Rainfed marginal agriculture
(low productivity)
- Devoid of external inputs,
complete organic farming
- Use of Locally available
land-races of NUS/FSF
- Crop residues and FYM as manure
- Low output per unit area
FGD in Dolakha

9. Rugged landscapes of Mountains

10. Challenges in mountain farming system
• Mountains are highly vulnerable to climate change
• Deterioration of local food systems, changing food habits,
reduced dietary diversity, the perception of FSF as inferior
food items,
– Rice is considered as prestigious food over FSF such as (Buckwheat,
millets, amaranth etc.)
– Socio-cultural settings with regard to FSF consumption
Local Policy dialogue, Dolakha
dist.

11. Challenges ----
- Rapid loss of local biodiversity due
to changing food habits and climate
change
- Lack of knowledge about the
cultivation of FSF and lack of
awareness of the uses and nutritional
value of FSF.
- As a result, the production of FSF
has declined in the mountains
- Policy Constraints in support of FSF
production

12. Main Prospects of Integration of Selected FSF
(Buckwheat) into Mountain Food System
• Nutrition- Nutrition dense, rich source of protein, Fe, Zn, Mg,
folic acid and improves health of Mountain people.
• Farming systems - Agriculture is rainfed and highly vulnerable
to climate change, Buckwheat is tolerant to drought, cold
temperature, and need lesser external inputs, and contribute food
security of the mountain people.
• Ecology- Faster growth, suppresses weeds, improves soil
fertility by adding OM and enriching the availability of P into soil.
Very important role as pollinators in apple orchards, absorbs UV
radiation.
• Socio-economic impact – Buckwheat has now become rich
mans’ food and by growing additional Buckwheat, Mountain
people can supply it to urban areas as well improve the health of
children and household members.

13. Uniqueness of Buckwheat farming in Nepal mountains
• It is grown by small and poor women farmers mainly in the
mountains and hills.
• Crop is grown relatively in marginal and
poor soil.
• Chemical fertilizer, irrigation, pesticides,
fungicides, etc. are not applied at all. So it is 100% organic
• Seed sowing, harvesting, threshing, seed cleaning, grading,
drying, processing, etc. is done by women farmers
• Buckwheat produced in the mountains and hills are large,
aromatic and have high specific gravity
• Pollinators

14. Mungbean for nutritional and food security

15. RiceWheat Mung
Rice-Wheat system’s sustainability
50-55 kg N/ha and 13-15 tons of biomass/ha/year
(within 4-5 years soil fertility reverts in original form)

16. To avoid several picking, farmers demand one
time picking variety

17. Some Buckwheat recipes used in Nepal
Buckwheat pancakes (Roti) Buckwheat finger- chips
Variety of buckwheat
bread
Buckwheat dhido Women in Agriculture
in Nepal

18. Recommendations to encourage smallholder farmers to
integrate FSF
➢ Creating awareness.
➢ Educating primary, secondary and tertiary education students on
the benefits of FSF
➢ Enhancing market opportunities
➢ Improving market demand for FSFs, there is a need to create awareness among
mountain people, particularly mothers and youth, about the nutritional value
of FSF
➢Developing food and nutrition security policies and programs
that integrate FSF production and consumption into local food
systems.
➢ Establishing local food processing industries to enhance local food diversity.
➢ Developing local food based agro-tourism in different Mountain and hill
resorts.
➢ Developing FSF-based school-feeding programs.
➢ Documenting the indigenous knowledge regarding their nutritional
value of FSF

19. Recommendations to encourage smallholder farmers to
integrate FSF
➢ Policy support
➢FSF should be given equal importance as cereals, such as
rice, wheat and maize, in national policies and programs
so that small holders in the remote hills encouraged to
grow more NUS.
➢Providing incentives to farmers in the form of subsidized
inputs (mainly organic in nature) and mechanisms to
support the price of FSF.
➢Institutional mechanisms focusing on market facilities,
storage. services, extension services.
➢Invest in FSF research and development.
➢Insuring credit facilities for FSF.

20. Thanks