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Jagadish Timsina, Tek Narayan Maraseni, Devendra Gauchan, Jagannath Adhikari and Hemant Ojha (eds), 2022, Agriculture, Natural Resources and Food Security: Lessons from Nepal. Springer

Olivia Aubriot

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Olivia Aubriot. Jagadish Timsina, Tek Narayan Maraseni, Devendra Gauchan, Jagannath Adhikari and Hemant Ojha (eds), 2022, Agriculture, Natural Resources and Food Security: Lessons from Nepal. Springer. European Bulletin of Himalayan Research, 2024, 62, pp.2257. 10.4000/ebhr.2257. hal-04668460

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Jagadish Timsina, Tek Narayan Maraseni, Devendra Gauchan, Jagannath Adhikari and Hemant Ojha
(eds), *Agriculture, Natural Resources and Food Security: Lessons from Nepal*

Olivia Aubriot

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**Electronic version**

URL: https://journals.openedition.org/ebhr/2257

ISSN: 2823-6114

**Publisher**

Centre d'études sud-asiatiques et himalayennes (UMR8077 CNRS/EHESS)

**Electronic reference**

Olivia Aubriot, "Jagadish Timsina, Tek Narayan Maraseni, Devendra Gauchan, Jagannath Adhikari and Hemant Ojha (eds), *Agriculture, Natural Resources and Food Security: Lessons from Nepal*, "*European Bulletin of Himalayan Research* [Online], 62 | 2024, Online since 15 July 2024, connection on 31 July 2024. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/ebhr/2257

This text was automatically generated on July 31, 2024.

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The text only may be used under licence CC BY 4.0. All other elements (illustrations, imported files) are
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Jagadish Timsina, Tek Narayan
Maraseni, Devendra Gauchan,
Jagannath Adhikari and Hemant
Ojha (eds), *Agriculture, Natural
Resources and Food Security: Lessons
from Nepal*

Olivia Aubriot

REFERENCES

*Agriculture, Natural Resources and Food Security: Lessons from Nepal* by Jagadish Timsina, Tek Narayan Maraseni, Devendra Gauchan, Jagannath Adhikari and Hemant Ojha (eds), Cham, Switzerland: Springer, 2022.

1 It is great to see a book from a prestigious publishing house that is entirely devoted to agriculture in Nepal and, to boot, almost exclusively written by Nepalese people (experts, academics, practitioners). The very origin of the project explains the reason for this: in 2019, four of the editors set up, from Australia, a scientific cooperative association between Nepal and Australia. All have a very sound knowledge of Nepalese agriculture and have been specialists of the topic for 20 to 40 years. More than 60 contributors and 40 reviewers, a good number belonging to the 'Nepalese scientific diaspora', were involved in this book.

2 The scientific editors' preface clearly announces the situation Nepalese agriculture is facing: 'The past decade has been particularly unprecedented... as we see the country become a net food importer from a food exporter. ... 15% (4.6 million) people [are] experiencing food access problem. ... Productive agriculture lands are being
abandoned, while food demand is growing.' (pxiii). The book aims to provide an analysis of this situation and to suggest technical, legal, institutional and policy solutions to remedy it. In order to go beyond the 'silo' and a fragmented vision of agrarian development work, the editors advocate a holistic and systemic approach.

3. To achieve these goals, the editors offer us a rich 451-page book that describes and analyses Nepalese agriculture which is still one of the country's predominant sectors, with 60% of the labour force contributing to 26% of the national gross domestic product. The book also puts forward various solutions, and some chapters deal with projections and simulation models. The first chapter introduces the book's content and gives an excellent summary of the results of each of the other 23 chapters. It also provides in table form the contribution of each chapter to the 15 United Nations' sustainable development goals. Finally, it sets out all the recommendations from various articles, whether in terms of lines of research or policy recommendations.

4. The book is then divided into four parts, each addressing a theme. The first part, entitled 'Agriculture, horticulture, and post-harvest management', with 12 chapters, accounts for more than half of the book. The second part, 'Livestock and fisheries', is made up of five chapters (numbered 14 to 18). Three chapters make up each of the last two parts: one on 'Forestry, community forestry and agroforestry', and one on 'Cross-cutting topics'. Apart from two chapters, all the others are co-authored (2 to 9 persons).

5. Numerous tables, graphs, maps and photographs illustrate the chapters, many of them in colour. All of these go towards completing the text, which will no doubt be appreciated by the reader. The methodology used is clearly explained in each chapter. Some chapters are based on national statistical analysis, some on case studies, some combine a literature review with the authors' knowledge based on their experience in the field, and a few deal with future projections.

6. What is striking is the diversity of the topics covered (seed system, soil fertility, post-harvest management, food contamination and laws, citrus exports, urban agriculture, transhumance, fisheries, agroforestry, forest ecosystemic services, gender equity etc), which reflects how complex it is to fully grasp the situation that agriculture is facing.

7. An analysis of national statistical data provides an overview of food production. Chapters 2, 3 and 14 succeed in doing this – respectively in cereal production, fruit and vegetable production, and livestock farming -, and they present various issues specific to these types of farming. Food production is on the rise but not enough to cover a growing demand: there has been only a slight increase in cereal production, a doubling in fruit and vegetable production between 2000 and 2020, a similar increase in the pig population, slightly less in buffalo, more than double in goats, while the numbers of chickens and fish has tripled over the 2010 decade. Low yields are therefore singled out: cereal yields are lower than elsewhere in South Asia, vegetable yields have stagnated (an increase in the cultivated area explains an increase in production), and the per capita availability of livestock products (meat and milk) is low despite the large livestock population (Nepal is one of the countries in South Asia to have the highest livestock population density per unit of cultivated land). Various reasons are given to explain why production has not been further improved, such as the ill-timed availability of fertilisers, the drop in soil fertility – due to the intensification of farming, reduced quantities of manure, inappropriate application of chemical fertilisers and soil acidity –, or a decrease in the cultivated area due to urbanisation and land abandonment, the latter resulting from outmigration and labour shortage. Added to
this, the effects of climate change will have a negative impact on the potential increase
in agricultural production so that there is little chance of the country achieving food
self-sufficiency by 2030.

8 These chapters also examine why the low levels of food production have contributed to making the country largely dependent on imports. ‘Limited marketable surplus available at household level is the fundamental reason for steady increase in food imports’ (chap2). They also explain how import conditions are detrimental to agriculture: cheap food imports have changed diets (less and less diversified) and crops (many of which are no longer cultivated). Moreover, they remind us of the complexity of organising trade in mountain areas and with a multitude of small farms. For example, chapter 14 explains that meat traders prefer to buy and import meat from a few Indian wholesalers rather than to collect it from a multitude of small farms.

9 These few examples show that agro-ecological, technical, social and economic issues are interconnected, and these chapters do indeed achieve the goal announced at the beginning of the book: to analyse all these issues.

10 To illustrate how the systemic approach advocated by the editors is applied, how it helps to understand the interconnection between agriculture, natural resources and food security, and in order to suggest solutions to this intricacy of issues, I have chosen to focus only on a few chapters, given that the chapters based on concepts such as regenerative agriculture, resource-conserving technologies, ecosystem services, agrobiodiversity, water-food-energy nexus and gender equity have particularly integrated this approach.

11 Chapter 11 (on regenerative agriculture), for example, starts with an interesting historical analysis of the policies, thus reminding us of the influence of policies on farmers' practices. It criticises the policy choices that have reduced agricultural subsidies because the mid-1990s and have focused strategies on intensive commercial agriculture: since 80% of farmers are smallholders, such policies are not appropriate for them. The current policy, with an emphasis on cash crops, also shows less concern for the livelihood improvement of small farmers. The authors suggest turning to regenerative agriculture, which is a nature-based type of farming with reduced use or no use of chemicals. Various practices could be implemented in Nepal, such as agroforestry, no tilling, production of food in water bodies, green fertilisers etc. This agriculture has the advantage of being more resilient to climate change. Close to traditional farming, it can still benefit from traditional knowledge. The authors propose a framework for planning the transition from conventional to regenerative agriculture, while developing the role of the different stakeholders. Chapter 7 (on agrobiodiversity and neglected species) needs a mention here since it points out specific examples of policies that are not adapted to small farmers and their food security. It recommends promoting crops overlooked by national policies. Because of their nutritional qualities and their resistance to climatic hazards, these neglected crops are now called ‘smart crops’ that can play a part in the future ‘smart food’. Millet has therefore been upgraded in the Humla region. This valorisation has come up against certain obstacles but these have been analysed, overcome and are explicitly detailed here in order to provide some lessons concerning other places or crops.

12 Chapter 12 also proposes a type of agriculture that calls for a break with the conventional agriculture model. The cropping system based on conservation agriculture technologies follows three principles: minimum soil disturbance, residue
retention in fields, and diversified and sustainable crop rotations. This seems particularly suited to farmers who lack manpower. The chapter reviews the various techniques tested in Nepal and gives measured performances from on-station and on-farm experiences, showing that this type of agriculture is relevant to Nepal. It has numerous advantages in terms of food production, environmental preservation, adaptation to climate change and adaptation to the social context of labour scarcity. The authors then explain the pros and the cons of implementing this type of model. They even suggest how to integrate it within the three new levels of government in federal Nepal.

13

Chapter 19 addresses a conceptual shift that has to be operated if we are to understand the forest ecosystems services that benefit the community. The authors highlight the fact that forest administrators and forestry professionals see the forest above all for its 'classic' timber and firewood products, not for its ecosystem services. These actors are still using approaches based on the conservation and management of forest biomass, though – as the chapter demonstrates – some initiatives regarding management based on ecosystemic services are emerging within forest communities.

14

These examples are a good illustration of the publishers' desire to move away from a purely productivist assessment of agriculture, and the reader can only appreciate this approach. However, it is not always clear whether the authors of the other chapters subscribe to this idea. We regret that some chapters propose solutions based essentially on irrigation (chap2, 22, 23), though no chapter is actually devoted to this subject or to water as a natural resource. Yet Nepal has many specialists in this field. Nepal is renowned for its farmer-managed irrigation systems, and management issues concerning large-scale irrigation systems set up by the State have also been studied there.

15

All the chapters propose practical, institutional and/or legal solutions as well as lines of research to make agriculture more productive and abundant enough to feed the country's population. They do indeed meet the book's goals. However, in my opinion, the good practices advocated throughout the book are not specific enough for each altitudinal belt.

16

Another aspect, which might seem minor since it concerns only two sentences out of the entire book: I was surprised to read in this book devoted to agriculture that 'agriculture is a prime driver of global land degradation' and 'cultivation on sloping lands has accelerated soil erosion' (p382). These are to be found in the chapter on agroforestry that shows how environmental degradation leads to food insecurity. The first statement should have been nuanced since some types of farming systems may deteriorate the environment while others won't (as the chapter also shows). The second one should have been phrased more carefully since the theory of Himalayan environmental degradation was dissected and dismembered by Ives and Messerli in 1989. Despite this, this theory spread widely for many years and had a significant impact on development programmes. Is it because the authors do not adhere to the demonstration of the *Himalayan dilemma* book, or because the present book only has a Nepalese bibliography from which some classic works have been left out?

17

Finally, we can say that this is in fact a book about agriculture, not necessarily about farmers (even if this remark is not valid for every chapter). For example, we learn that in general the number of livestock is increasing and that there are major dairy pocket areas. But what about at farm level? Does it mean there is a concentration of ruminants
on certain farms, and fewer on smaller farms, especially since oxen are no longer
needed as a pulling force due to the ongoing mechanisation process? Similarly, who are
the farmers who have contributed to the increase in fruit and vegetable production?
Are they situated only close to roads so that their produce can be sold to cities? We can
warmly encourage members of the group behind this book to continue their work by
addressing the deceptively simple question: who will be the farmers of tomorrow in
Nepal?

AUTHORS

OLIVIA AUBRIOT

Olivia Aubriot is a researcher at CESAH (Centre for South Asian and Himalayan Studies, CNRS-EHESS, France). With a background in agronomy, ethnology and geography, she is a specialist of water management in Nepal and India via an interdisciplinary approach. She has a keen interest in the logic underlying irrigation practices and addresses hydraulic techniques as social facts involved in the construction of places and social links.