Newsletter 46

ICIMOD IN 2004

Alternative Approaches for Rural Income Generation

Eco-Tourism Innovation: 'Cliff Bee' Tourism

ICIMOD's well-known indigenous beekeeping programme began developing a new 'bee-watch' tourism project to conserve the cliff bees of Nepal and increase the income of surrounding communities by bringing in international tourists or bee enthusiasts to observe the nesting habitats of Nepal's cliff bees. Instead of destroying nests for honey, local communities and tour operators are being offered conservation incentives through tourism fees. National Geographic, Austrian Public Radio, and Pulse of the Planet have publicised this story globally and interest is growing in Austria and France for this interesting tourism option, with French and Austrian tour agencies already promoting this tourism product. In Nepal, the capacity of local honey hunter groups has also been strengthened to develop social fences around bee cliffs to conserve bee habitats.

Further, by providing small subsidies to farmers in the form of a revolving fund as well as training, advisory, and technical support, the indigenous honeybee programme has been able to provide tangible gains to poor people in the mountain areas of the region. ICIMOD has been able to make a breakthrough in the difficult area of Apis cerana multiplication. It has been able to achieve mass queen rearing and nucs marketing, which is a step ahead of a prototype bee development programme. This has led to the development of private and small businesses in Pokhara, Nepal in 16 VDCs, from which 348 households are already benefiting. ICMOD's partners in Kaski, Nepal were able to generate 70 000 Nepalese rupees by selling honey, nucs, equipment, and training services. The work in Nepal, India, and Pakistan has led Bangladesh to launch a five-year programme on beekeeping throughout the country. ICIMOD is assisting the Bangladesh Cottage and Small Industries Corporation (BSCIC) in developing this programme.

In order to assist Bhutan in its up-scaling of integrated dairy-horticulture farming models (cattle with fruit trees and assorted vegetables), ICIMOD and its partner, the Renewable Natural Resources Research Centre (RNRRC) in collaboration with the Dzongkhag and Goeg staff (district-level and local renewable natural resources staff), developed pilot programmes in two villages - Thridangbi and Kalampang - in Eastern Bhutan. Fourteen farmers from Thridangbi and eleven farmers from Kalampang were chosen to take part in the programme.

To date, the impact of the project has been extremely positive. Staff of the RNRRC say that the project has proven to be an innovative farming model. They have taken it upon themselves to expand the model in the district, beyond integrated dairy-horticulture and have added agro-forestry and water harvesting. Staff from the Dzongkhag commended the project's capacity building and partnership potential, saying that it has helped them to maintain formal linkages with the RNRRC as well as providing opportunities to experiment with different farming and other options aside from their regular programmes. Similarly, local Goeg staff maintain that the project has helped them get additional attention both from their superiors at the district level as well as from RNRRC. The programme has helped them to enhance their technical skills and has enabled them to understand the farmers with whom they work better by building more effective working relationships. Finally, the project's impact on the participating farmers has been very positive. RNRRC reports that farmers take good care of the plants and planting materials and that there is a 100 % survival rate for all plants provided. There is visible improvement in the landscape with either hedgerow plantation, agro-forestry, and intercropping of pasture and fodder trees. Significantly, the farmers in Thridangbi plan to introduce a group savings scheme and the farmers in Kalampang would like to buy a power tiller together and use it to earn extra income for the group. The mixed farming models in these two villages have become popular and receive many visitors, including other farmers and experts, enabling further exchange of information and knowledge.

Up-scaling of Technologies

ICIMOD has pioneered several alternative income generation options for rural mountain peoples through its work at the ICIMOD Demonstration and Training Centre at Godavari in Nepal; through its indigenous honeybees programme; and through the development and promotion of integrated dairy and horticulture farming and a system for rice intensification.

ICIMOD piloted a 'bottom-up' approach for up-scaling options for rural technologies to generate alternative energy and income by organising the training of trainers (ToT) for community leaders from rural areas in Nepal. ICIMOD received positive feedback from several sites, and local governments and civil societies have started adopting these technologies.

This year, ICIMOD continued building the capacities of local communities through its work in and around the ICIMOD Demonstration and Training Centre, Godavari, Nepal. Capacity was built in farm-based technologies, including water harvesting and plastic sheet greenhouses. Also, lead farmers from remote Nepali villages were trained at the Godavari Demonstration and Training Centre site. They in turn have already initiated various activities for implementation and sharing in their own villages. Women's groups and forest user groups from the villages surrounding the Godavari centre have started using many of the available technologies, particularly for increasing farm income and community forest management. Ten forest rangers from Lalitpur District, Nepal were trained to use new inventory methodologies, Geographic Positioning Systems (GPS), and GIS for making community forest inventories. This is a basic requirement if they are to hand over the management and use of the forests to local communities.

Improving Farmers' Livelihoods - Success in Pakistan

In early 1999, the local people of Hilkot village, Mansehra District, in the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan had few expectations when a research team from the Pakistan Forestry Institute started working in their area. Curious villagers were told that the research was about watershed management, land rehabilitation, trees, and runoff. The only visible signs of the work were the river gauging stations and automatic weather recorders.

However, by late 1999, some roadside trials had begun to attract interest. The farmers involved started to tell other farmers of the difference in yields between the varieties being grown in the trials and their traditional varieties. The use of new maize varieties and improved husbandry led to a quadrupling of yields in the first year and a further doubling in the second year. By the 2004 season, yields had again doubled in the same fields. In the same way, wheat grown as a fodder crop is now giving up to four tonnes of grain per hectare as well as greatly increased amounts of straw.

Many other successes have followed the arrival of the researchers. A 200-tree apple orchard, which had almost been dug up because of low yields, is now producing 30 boxes of organic apples per year. These are snapped up by dealers for the Islamabad market at double the local market price. In 2001, one enterprising farmer decided to grow onions for seed with encouragement from the project's agronomist. Now, three years later, there is a flourishing seed cooperative in the area. In 2004 it produced and sold 200 000 Pakistani rupees-worth of certified seed. It is also selling a wide range of vegetable seed and the improved maize and wheat seeds promoted by the project.

After a while, the research team felt that they needed to share their findings with a wider audience. In 2001 they organised a Farmers' Day to allow the growing number of trial participants to explain their successes to other farmers and to exchange their ideas and opinions about the new techniques. An agricultural fair was held at the same time with stalls from the bee research institute, the renewable energy department, other government agencies, private companies, and NGOs. This fair has become a regular part of the local calendar and in 2004, 500 farmers attended.

The project has increasingly involved women farmers in testing and evaluating farming methods new to the area. Trials and recommendations to improve home gardens, simple ways of improving drinking water by solar distillation, and the storage of crop surpluses have all made a real difference for local women.

Given that local social values discourage women from attending public events alongside men, in 2004 the team decided to hold a separate Farmers' Day and agricultural fair for women farmers. The team expected no more than 150 women to attend. In fact, over 350 women came, attracted by stories about reduced workloads, improved family nutrition, and other benefits that had led from taking part in the project's initiatives.

The project has also helped to overcome deep seated and divisive social differences between the rich Khans who live in the valley bottom and the tenants, mostly from the Gujar community, who rent the marginal land on the upper slopes from the Khans. Improved understanding between the two groups has led to great benefits for both sides. As one landlord explained, "A few years ago I would not have travelled in the same vehicle as one of my tenants - but now I am feeding them in my house" (at the Farmers' Day). This dialogue and improved understanding has also led to the tenants feeling more secure about their rights, prompting them to invest more in their rented land by planting trees and taking other measures to conserve the soil.

The researchers helped to set up a groundbreaking meeting where the landlords, who also own most of the forest areas, the tenants (the forest users) and the forest department (the custodians of the forests) sat down together and agreed how to manage the area's forests. The landlords say that as a result there is less illegal felling of 'their timber'.

The year 2004 has seen a number of project initiatives beginning to bear fruit in the Hilkot Watershed. The innovative SRI technique of transplanting single, very young rice seedlings at wide planting intervals - as opposed to the traditional more mature bunches of seedlings at a closer interval - has resulted in a 25 % to 50 % yield increase. The skeptical farmers who transplanted the rice found these results unbelievable. The use of earthenware pitchers to trap water runoff when establishing fruit trees on stony upland soils is also showing promising results. This technique is well suited to this area of moderately low, but fairly well-distributed rainfall. Another recent success has been the adoption of the innovative agroforestry system of poplar trees with vegetables. This has been adopted in the valley bottoms and involves the planting of hybrid poplars developed at the Pakistan Forest Institute. These trees are ready for harvesting in six years and give valuable wood that is used for furniture making and for construction.

Hilkot is one of the five research watersheds of the People and Resource Dynamics in the Middle Mountain Watersheds of the Hindu Kush-Himalayas project. Young scientists from ICIMOD's partner, the Pakistan Forest Institute, are carrying out this research. This project acts as a regional research network with each of its watersheds sharing its successes and lessons learned with researchers and farmers in the other watersheds and beyond. Project successes from Nepal, India, and China have been presented to and discussed with farmers in Hilkot. This has led to some Hilkot farmers trying out new farming methods.

The many changes brought about by the introduction of new techniques and the exchange of ideas has led to cumulatively large changes, although, taken alone, many of the resulting successes have only involved small improvements. One such example is the adoption in other watersheds of the technique from Nepal of covering compost heaps with black plastic. This has led to an average 10 % improvement in compost quality and the compost is ready to use in a shorter time. In line with this philosophy of small cumulative improvements, PARDYP is encouraging government extension services to promote a basket of appropriate techniques that taken together can make a huge difference to hill farmers.

Other techniques that have been successfully demonstrated and adopted in PARDYP research watersheds have included new water harvesting techniques, drip and micro sprinkler irrigation, hydraulic rams for lifting irrigation water, simple polyhouses, and composting with worms. In the coming years the project will support local farmers to further test and adapt these techniques to local conditions.

So what about indicators of success?
Perhaps the most visible sign of success is the return to the area of many local people who had left for Islamabad and Karachi to earn a living. Returnee Momin Khan told researchers, "Now with new crops and farming methods I can earn much more on our family farm than working in a tea shop in Karachi."

Why has it worked when other similar interventions have failed?
First, the project deliberately kept the expectations of local people low. Second, the donors' long-term commitments have allowed the development of sound relationships and project credibility. Third, the relatively small immediate study area of 1600 ha has allowed for adequate and regular attention to be given to research and demonstration activities. Fourthly, the permanent local presence of a team of young, enthusiastic, and qualified scientists is perhaps the key factor in that it has led to friendly competition between the different teams from across the region. Finally the project's flexible approach has been crucial in allowing it to continue to make good progress when difficulties have arisen.

And what about the future?
Pakistan's Inspector General of Forests is keen to extend the approaches used and the innovations developed in the Hilkot research watershed to farmers across all of the surrounding areas of the critically important Tarbela Watershed. The Hilkot Watershed is a beacon of innovation and is now attracting funds and staff from donors, NGOs, government departments, and research institutes.