by Richard Allen (Nepal Co-Director, The Glacier Trust)
TGT’s Nepal based Co-Director, Richard Allen visited our NGO partners, HICODEF in Nawalparasi, south central Nepal, in December 2021.
This is the first in series of photo essays he has written up for us on the progress being made on our Layer Farming for Adaptation (LFAP) project.
Episode 1: Monitoring Our LFAP Project – Setting the Scene
Finally, as 2021 was drawing to a close and it was possible to travel freely in Nepal, I found time and opportunity to travel down to Nawalparasi to take a look at progress, communities and plans for the future on our LFAP project (Layer Farming for Adaptation), implemented by our great partner, HICODEF (The Himalayan Community Development Forum).
As COVID, and baby Osian, book writing - marketing - promotion, and podcasting (amongst other things) has been keeping Morgan a wee bit busy in the UK, it was a call to action for the old fella in Kathmandu to fill the gap. So I jumped on the bus in Kathmandu on 6 December 2021, and meandered my way through the hills down to the terai town of Kawasoti, where HICODEF’s main office is located.
Amidst their usual busy schedules, Krishna, the Executive Director of HICODEF, and Shukra, the LFAP Project Coordinator, had kindly organised a field trip to meet 5 of the 7 communities with which the project is working.
Where are we with LFAP?
LFAP Phase 1, working in 3 communities (Baseni, Ripaha, Lahape) has come to a close in September 2021 after providing support for two years, and an agreement for the implementation for an LFAP Phase 2 was signed by TGT and HICODEF in November 2021.
LFAP 2 will work in four new communities Dulunga, Chargare, Pokhari and Dhoubadi, much as we worked in the first two years with the LFAP 1 communities, where we will continue to provide encouragement and technical support as necessary - with the ubiquitous mobile telephone system, this is so much easier than in the past.
LFAP 1 has achieved much, and is well covered in the LFAP 1 Annual Report of September 2021. On a very limited budget, the highlights of Phase 1 included:
the intensive training of some 100 farmers in the 3 villages in coffee and vegetable production and processing,
the rehabilitation of older coffee trees planted some 15 to 20 years ago (of which more in a future episode),
the planting of over 8,000 coffee seedlings, the establishment of several coffee nurseries, and
a field trip for 9 farmers to different parts of the coffee industry in the Kathmandu Valley.
The Monitoring Trip
Between the 7th and 10th December, I joined Krishna Ghirme and Shukra Raj Ojha from HICODEF on a monitoring visit to five of the seven LFAP communities - two from phase 1 of the project that had been active for two years, and three of the new phase 2 communities. It was interesting to compare them.
Shukra, Richard, and Krishna at our first stop in Ripaha, a LFAP 1 community – note the ubiquitous goats and the solar panel on the roof to provide light in the evening.
To save the old fella’s knees, most of the journeys between the communities were undertaken by 4WD vehicles of dubious vintage – brilliant drivers who spend their days in the hills and thus know which roads are driveable and which are closed due to landslides and other damage, but the vehicles…..
The Landslides vs. the Broomgrass
Agh yes, the landslides…. only the brave travel these roads, although the residents have no choice. The area is littered with landslides, from small to massive, and roads that have collapsed due to poor design, heavy monsoon rainfall events, and lack of proper drainage.
Mother Nature in action with a “little” bit of help from mankind.
A huge landslide threatening the LFAP phase 2 community of Dhoubadi, a village of 41 households. However, note the red roof to the right of centre, where a brave investor has constructed a new 10 bedroom hotel, and the plantations to the right and on distant hills, some trees and some broomgrass, an attempt to control the soil erosion and landslides on these unstable hills.
Lord Buddha, with the Annapurna range in the background, sits in a Peace Park and overlooks the village of Dhoubadi, but not sure even he can stop the march of the landslides across this area. The Dhoubadi community are also building a Hindu temple on an opposite hill to provide additional protection.
Another huge landslide threatening communities – this one occurred in the heavy monsoon of 2021, and blocked a small river at the foot of the slope, creating a lake, a dangerous occurrence as it may burst in the future and threaten downslope communities.
Landslides do not have to be big and dramatic to cause tragedy. This small localised landslip occurred in the monsoon of 2021 in our LFAP Phase 2 community of Charghare, killing three people and destroying their house.
Remains of a home destroyed by a small landslide in Charghare, 2021
Landslides are everywhere, many caused by poor road construction. poor maintenance and non-existent drainage. There is no way of predicting landslides but it is highly likely that the risks will increase with climate change exacerbating the number of extreme rainfall events.
And how does Broomgrass help?
Broomgrass cannot stop landslides, but it helps to control surface erosion, and provides an income for local people. Several projects in the past (eg. NCDP funded by Action Aid, and MSFP, funded by DFID, Finland and SDC) have focused on planting broomgrass on these fragile hillsides, which has helped to stabilize the topsoil, reduce the rates and velocity of surface runoff and subsequent soil erosion, and utilize the soil moisture, reducing the risk of saturation.
Broomgrass grows on the side of a hill in Nawalparasi, helping to bind the soil and prevent landslides that would block to road below
Some postulate that trees provide better protection but trees are very heavy and the sheer weight of trees on steep slopes can cause rotational slips and landslides after continuous heavy rainfall.
Some of these plantations are now 15 years old, and are still flourishing. Broomgrass requires very little input from the farmers (planting, occasional weeding in the first year, and annual harvesting), and the annual income from the panicles that are made into household brushes can commonly exceed NRs 100,000 per annum (more than £600).
At a farmer's meeting in Pokhari, one of the new LFAP phase 2 communities, all 10 farmers in attendance had planted plots of broomgrass, and some make more money from their broomgrass than from their main traditional source of income, ginger.
Stay tuned for episode 2 of Richard’s report from Nawalparasi.