Journal of Earth Science & Climatic Change
Open Access

Nepal is by far one of the diverse countries in the world having a variable climatic phenomenon due to its phenomenal geographical variation. Ranging between the altitudinal variation of 59 m to 8848m, Nepal has a diverse climatic phenomenon. The total area of Nepal147,516 sq. km is divided into mountains (35%), hills (42%) and terai (23%). The tropical area of the country and the grain basket of Nepalthe Terai region is the prime region accounting for the agricultural production, producing an overall grain surplus of almost 125 per cent due to which the other two region, the hilly and the himalayan region also rely on his region [1]. The total agricultural land is 29% of the country’s land area, (the equivalent of 4,123, 120 ha) and 15% of the area mentioned is cultivated by the farmers, whereas 17% of the land is under permanent pastures [2]. The Terai region includes 21 out of Nepal’s 77 districts. It is bound to the north by the Churiya hills and to the south by the Indian border. According to the 2011 national census, the Terai is inhabited by approximately 50.3 percent of Nepal’s population. The highly fertile soils dominate the cultivation of rice, which is also the main crop in the region, wheat, chickpea, lentil, oilseed, mustard, sugarcane and tropical fruits such as mango, litchi. Crop intensification is very common in this region, along with the livestock, as the main component in their farms [3]. (Figure 1)

Nepal is à country, which is quite exposed when it comes to Climate Change. The turbulence in the weather pattern like increasing the temperature, most importantly, the variations in the monsoon season- intense rainfall (both in terms of intensity and frequency) has miserably disturbed the farmers of Nepal in a miserable way to some extent [4]. The Terai region is also on the verge of vulnerability- the monsoon rains, snow melts and glacial melt, downstream directly to the plain from the highland’s regions. But the farmers of the terai, have noticed some changes in the timing and intensity of the flooding in recent years- the floods have been less intense but more frequent and occur much sooner after rain events, despite the low volume of rain [5].

Case Study

A scenario described by the farmers and people in the Far-Western Terai (Kailali and Kanchanpur District) of Nepal [6]. “The present monsoon times have become more unpredictable (sometimes sooner than expected, while sometimes too late than expected). When the monsoon is late, the rice transplantation is delayed, due to which yield has been affected. There is also very less provision of irrigation- only those who have access, use either a canal or a well-pump to irrigate their dry fields while the rest of the farmers are mostly dependent on the rain for the practices. The farmers have also noticed one thing in peculiar- the ground depth of the water table or the aquifer has been getting deeper and deeper over a decade. An observed depth increases in the table to 50 feet from 20 feet (an upsurge in the depth do a massive 30 feet) was reported by the farmers which is immense, and something to be worried about, all courtesy due to change in the climate.

Not only the farmers, but the entire community in this region have observed and felt that the temperature has changed to warmer than before. The impacts brought by this climate change has been quite distinct-the fruits are being matured more quickly while the other cereal crops are also being matured 15 to 20 days earlier than what their normal time of harvest used to be. The warm temperatures also serve as the appropriate environment for pest to increase and reproduce, due to which the insurgence of new pests and insects are being more prominent and are causing destruction to the crops in every single way. The more astounding part is- the pests are being robust to the application to the pesticides used to ward them off or kill them, which is becoming something even more challenging and hectic to the farmers.In terms of Land-use change, there have been drastic changes seen. Due to the rapid deforestation process for expanding land for cultivation purpose, the impacts are visible in the rivers nearby of their vicinity- i.e. they are getting more vulnerable to erosion (riverbanks) and are increasing in their area. Due to increasing number of families or population, the system of living together with their family as a joint one has been converted to nuclear/small, due to which also the lands are being cleared, promoting deforestation.

More to that, more living population means more timber wood for fuel (in the rural areas, the main source of energy is still the firewood), minimal incorporation of livestock in their system of farming (less grass to feed them), and most crucial, due to low livestock, less use of manures in the fields, and more use of chemicals has led to the degradation of the soil of this region, even more. The above-described scenario is a perfect illustration of how climate change has been affecting the food basket region of Nepal. The scenario is parallel to almost every districts and region of the Terai, as climate change has become a direct influencer affecting farmers, agriculture and entire lives. In Nepal, 91% of employed women are directly involved in farming compared to men as the male members work abroad (India mainly since it’s bordered near to it, else gulf countries). This represents that the involvement and dependency of women in agriculture are higher than that of men.

This is also the reason, why women are more closely attached to nature and natural resources as they are directly associated with them. (IFC, 2016). One of the crucial impacts brought by climate change in the terai region of Nepal is monsoon fluctuation (as mentioned above). Being a monsoon dependent country for most of its agriculture [7] stated that the terai area received less rain, particularly in the eastern lowlands in 2005/2006, reducing the crop production by 12.5%. On the other hand, in the Midwestern terai region, the problem was different, the heavy rain (deluge) faced by this region reduced the crop production by 30% [8].

Forced due to several factors, Nepalese farmers rely chiefly on rainfall timing, frequency, duration and intensity for growing the crops, which are heavily altered due to climate change. This forces farmers to face new sort of challenges in improving their yield and subsequently their entire livelihood [9]. Also, the land use pattern of the terai region (also the mid-hill) is being depleted by human induced activities such as uncontrolled grazing (a year-round problem in terai region), degrading the soils heavily in terms of erosion, fertility status, physical properties (compaction creation, water holding capacity decrement) leading eventually to further catastrophes [10]. Landuse change is a global problem and Nepal can’t be an exception to it, especially land for food cultivation is necessary to feed the growing population. Regrettably, failure of the government agencies and the concerned organization to bring in the effective programs to stop these ongoing forest degradation process and lack of awareness amongst the people is also liable in this regard [11].

Some of the consequences observed and seen amongst the following parameters are listed below:

Soil is one of the vulnerable components that get affected in the first place due to changes in the ecosystem. There have been various observations made by different scientists when it comes to soil properties. To discuss here, mainly the soil moisture is pragmatized of an area in the terai named Rautahat. The soil moisture status was observed from 2000 till 2015, was found to be decreasing considerably, more distinct in the year 2015. A range of soil moisture in between 0.60- 0.80 in average was recorded in the year 2000 (0.81-1 as highest range and 0..027-0.18 as a low range), which was found to be reduced upto 20% when it was re-evaluated in the year 2014 [12]. This considerable reduction in the soil moisture is led due to various land-use changes driven by climate change. Climate change has not only affected the environmental parameters, but the whole way of adaptation has been changed or affected in terms of livelihood. This was made into an account by the research conducted by Upadhyaya in another tropical/terai region of Nepal- ‘Jamuni’ in Bardiya district, which mentioned that the farmer’s livelihood had been directly impacted with the alteration of the practices or progresses such as water scarcity problem, extreme dryness, change in the cropping calendar.

A research conducted by Indian scientist in the ‘90s predicted that the dominant production of one of the important cereals in the tropical/terai- wheat would be severely impacted by a loss in the yield upto 17-18% [13]. This holds when another observation was made by the UN-WFP, that there was a decrease in the yield of wheat by 15% and the production by upto 10%. In one of the villages of Bardiya district in the terai, these observations made sense as due to seasonal fluctuation and dependency in the rain for cultivation, some irregularities were observed in the germination of the seed till harvesting of crops. Climate change is for sure affecting the agricultural production by these ways in the terai. In agriculture, another severe impact brought by climate change is also the insurgence of new pest and disease outbreak in the crop fields of farmers. The favorable warm temperature due to increase in the carbon dioxide concentration in the environment seemed to have created a hospitable environment for these existing as well as insurgence of new kinds of species of insects to increase their population. This effect of climate change for sure has lots of negative impact in a country like Nepal, who is struggling to fulfill the goal to ensure food security throughout the nation [14].

The adaptation strategies are some of how the effects of climate change could be neutralized a bit. There is something unique about farmers- they do possess some knowledge, some inherited practices, which could also help them adjust their cropping pattern amidst the ongoing changes in Nepal. [9] Dominated by several cultural tribes, Nepal is home to several ethnic groups, who also possess their way of practicing agriculture. To deal with with these mechanisms, some of the native approaches practiced in the terai by the farmers is elucidated below.

Native/Indigenous Practices

Farmers practiced multiple cropping in their farms, as a sequence of paddy-wheat-fallow or paddy-lentil- fallow or paddy-pea-fallow (at least a legume in one season). However, with these new circumstances, the new cropping pattern is shifted to only one kind (monocropping), Paddy-Wheat. Initially, the crops were left fallow for a time, which is changed, crops planted the whole year. This is one of the good approaches of not letting the field go fallow; at the same time the nutrient provided by the legumes is reduced in the field. This technique could be improvised by using or consulting scientific approaches. The use of wild varieties by the farmers since the very beginning is still relevant in some parts of cropping. The wild or old landraces are disease resistant and most of the times, are tolerant of the insurgence of attacks of pests. This technique has been used by farmers by re-growing their traditional kind of rice varieties which was grown before the new varieties approached. This technique has also opted when it comes to the modern practice of grafting, they use old landraces as root stock as they are more resistant and immune to the attack of the insects. One of the major incorporations in the farms of the farmers- is the integration of trees, commonly we call this process as agroforestry.

This system was always practiced by the farmers to bring the crop diversity, to prevent lodging of crops from windbreak, to increase crop productivity in their field. Practices such as community forestry, and increasing the efficiency of land through riverbed farming, cash crop cultivation was also an indigenous method practiced by the farmers in the old days. Not to forget that the nutrient management in the field is one of the special skills practiced by the farmer since the very beginning period. Incorporating livestock was there always, but farmers have still been using the waste-extracts such as mustard oil cakes, soybean cakes to increase the fertility of the soil, feed animals for their nutrient stability. Along with that, medicinal plants such as Neem, and other trees and shrubs were planted, and their extracts and oils have been used to ward of insects as well as other rodents. These traditional practices, although may sound equally beneficial, however, if these practices are incorporated along with the modern crop improvement techniques, not only they could give good production, but could also help the farmers combat against the climate change.

Some of the possible ways to do so are explained below in brief

The agronomic practices of crop rotation, alley cropping, intercropping could be adopted. Although the climate change brought some challenges to this practice, using improved and resilient varieties in the field could give wonderful results as, the incorporation of these crops would add nutrient to the soil, improving the soil health by conserving soil moisture and reducing evapotranspiration [10]

Nutrient cycling is another way of improving soil health and soil structure. This could be made possible by allowing the synergies of the system to work smoothly. For instance, promoting the interaction of soil micro faunas which are involved in decomposing, transferring the organic matter from ecosystem to the plant system. This would for sure add dual benefits [6]

An important way to minimize nutrient loss as well as to allow soil function well is by disturbing the soil less by adopting practice of minimum tillage and integration of cover crops. Minimum disturbance to the soil could allow the soil to restore its vigor, which is an important aspect to improve soil health. Studies also show that the practice of minimum tillage improves the carbon sequestering in the soil as the losses are minimized.

As the benefit of cover crops are known to us all, this is also one of the excellent tools when it comes to maintaining the soil as well as to improve diversity in the field. Mainly the cover crops help to improve the soil fertility, ward off the unwanted grass and seedling germination by their special mechanisms- allelochemical secretion. Framers in the tropics could use crops like mungbean, Azolla in their fields to see improved results of soil conservation, allure invasive crops and at the same time improve productivity[6]

We discussed the integration of forests in their fields by the farmers for a long time. But with the modern practices of agroforestry system, they could be benefitted robustly. Agroforestry is already an established soil conservation approach in the mid-hills of Nepal. Similar kind of method could also bring a lot of positive impacts on the soils in the terai. With so many benefits like water holding, preventing leaching of important minerals deep into the soil, and according to recent studies, a hub for storing carbon in the fields, agroforestry could be one of the best possible means to tackle climate change [14] Studies have also shown that agroforestry could create a microclimate in the field and could protect the field from extreme weather conditions.

It can be inferred that the overall impact of climate change in agricultural sectors has several negative impacts on the long-term point of view (exceptions in some cases). Climate change is evident and advancing, so there is a need for accelerated impact identification and implementation of such ideas to cope with vulnerabilities that are seen in the agricultural sector. Nepal, the least developing country is moving towards a vulnerable situation due to climate change. It has been reported that the emission of CO2 in Nepal is 0.10 Metric tons per capita, which is almost negligible. But this doesn’t imply that Nepal should stay idle and don’t implement measures to combat the ongoing global change. Development of crop varieties and animal breeds could be one of the possible solutions to minimize the impacts of climate change in agriculture. As we discussed some of the best possible ways to tackle climate change above, more attention and more innovative ideas and practices should be researched so that problems such as climate change, soil health and at the same time food security could also be addressed. Soil and productivity are directly associated with each other and a minor fluctuation in one component could also bring serious consequences.

Better extension approaches to educate, and aware farmers in the vulnerable sites could be carried out by the government officers in this regard. One of the possibilities, emerging and resourceful tactic to solve this rising issue could also be- “Climate Smart Agriculture’. ClimateSmart Agriculture- CSA is the scientific interventions developed to cope against the ongoing climate change in the farming sector. There are so many strategies in this method, which has also been adopted by several other countries in the African territories and in some parts of South East Asia. The CSA practices focus mainly on addressing key challenges to the agricultural sectors like water problems, soil erosion & reduced soil fertility, the insurgence of pests and diseases due to climate change and so on. Some of the practices of CSA in respect to the terai region of Nepal are briefly expressed in the Annex section of this report, which, if followed and practiced by farmers, could help in combating climate change issues. Finally, climate change is undeniable, and the impacts brought by this in the agriculture sector of Nepal are being sharply noticeable. Therefore, effective approaches and adoption strategies should be made into a custom for the farmers. Especially for countries like Nepal, where agriculture is the principal determinant of the economy, this thing should be considered very seriously. The government and the policymakers should be very committed to address and formulate the necessary strategies to address the challenges brought by climate change to agricultural development.