Ms. Katharina Schiller, a master student
from Hohenheim University, is investigating the sustainability of riverbed
farming in the Indo-Gangetic plains (the Terai) of southern Nepal, in
collaboration with Helvetas Nepal.
After the monsoon season, rivers run dry
again, giving landless and land-poor farmers, as well as those whose arable
lands have been lost to siltation from floods, an opportunity to use the dry
riverbeds for vegetable farming.
Ms. Schiller has been in Nepal since late
March. After spending a week meeting stakeholders from the Riverbed Farming
Alliance in Kathmandu, she went to Dhangadhi, in the southwest corner of Nepal,
to do the bulk of her field work. There, she met stakeholders at the local
government level before beginning regular trips to meet with riverbed farming
groups in the two westernmost districts of the Terai, Kailali and Kanchanpur.
Most groups she has met have been composed of Tharu (indigenous) people, and a
large percentage have been female farmers. These represent two of the most
disadvantaged groups in the Terai.
In the riverbed farming program, riverbed
land is leased to groups of farmers. The groups receive lessening amounts of
inputs for 3 years. Technological training through Local Resource Persons
continues after the project phases out. The groups Ms. Schiller has met have
been farming in the riverbeds for several years now and report very positive
results. The income from the sales of vegetables have allowed them to increase
their household's year-round access to food, purchase arable land, open new
businesses, and invest in their children's education. Eating patterns have
changed, with all farmers interviewed thus far reporting that they eat much
more vegetables now than in the past. Most groups also mentioned a reduction in
male out-migration to seek employment in urban centers of Nepal or India.
The
success of riverbed farming is evident from the high level of replication of
the technology by other villagers (spill over effect), clearly visible in
adjacent fields.
Ms. Schiller is looking forward to
continuing to meet riverbed farming groups in the next weeks.
Photos: Katharina Schiller
