Changing The Livelihood

DAJA 2006 Winner - Development Agencies and Development Category

At a time when intensification of conflict has already disrupted development process making it virtually impossible to implement programs in the remote parts of the country, a successful implementation of promotion of vegetable seed production program shows a new way out. With the access to market increasing, farmers in remote areas are moving from subsistence-based to commercial agriculture. With easily available markets in the country and high potentials for exports, the vegetable seeds production can change the livelihood of poor and deprived farmers. Although it is yet to expand the program to remote parts of Nepal , the Center for Environment and Agricultural Policy Research, Extension and Development (CEAPRED), a non-governmental organization with expertise in promoting commercialization of off-season vegetables, has shown that seed production will help maximize the income of the poor. In the face of frequent strikes, roadblocks and threats or intimidation, the seed production, which is based on the involvement of local population, can change the fate of marginalized small farmers and support in reducing the poverty.


By KESHAB POUDEL, Spotlight Magazine, Nepal

Maiya Pariyar, 45, a resident of Nala VDC of Kavre district, had never realized that her small plot of land could sustain the livelihood of her five-members family. After the beginning of production of vegetable seeds, the small land has started to generate annual income of more than Rs. 20, 000 (US$ 300) - much higher than the value of traditional cereal crops.

Living in interior parts of Kavre district, 30 kilometer east of capital, Pariyar, who belongs to so-called untouchable class, used to plant traditional crops like millet and maize. But, the food grain produced in her land was always inadequate and fulfilled less than half a year of demand.
“In the last couple of years, most of the families like ours have shown that they can generate money by planting vegetables for seeds,” said Pariyar, whose daily income also has jumped now. “Of course, we sell seeds not vegetables but we are safer and secure than those who produce the fresh vegetables as frequent strikes and road disruptions are creating trouble for such perishable goods.”

Pariyar, a subsistence-based farmer, also has started to learn the ways of commercialization. She has shown that opportunities not subsidies can transform their livelihood.

Pariyar is not the only one with such experience in Kavre district. There are 337 groups of farmers in Kavre district including 118 members from deprived community who have benefited under the Promotion of Vegetable Seed for Poverty Reduction in Deprived Areas of Nepal program. Since farmers of Kavre district have already been successful in producing adequate fresh vegetables, the vegetable seed production program gained momentum soon after its implementation.

Not only had the deprived communities of Kavre benefited from the programs, the farmers from districts like Dolakha, Surkhet, Dadeldhura and Baitadi, too, have similar tales to tell. As farmers have their own knowledge of seed production, the support by social mobilizers of CEAPRED helped them in finding the market.

After meeting with social mobilizer of CEAPRED, Dharma Karki, a resident of Mukare village of Surkhet district, 400 miles west of capital, came to know that vegetable seed production could generate more income than traditional crop. “I did not know that I could earn money from the sales of bitter gourd and okra seeds,” said Karki, whose husband works in India as a laborer.

Supported under the assistance of Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation for Nepal , CEAPRED, which has successfully transformed the livelihood of many farmers in Kavre and other districts by introducing off-season fresh vegetable production, is taking the lead to implement the program to uplift the livelihood of the population who have been living in remote parts of the country.

For CEAPRED, it is not new experience as the organization has been involved in this area since 1999 in different parts of the country.

The CEAPRED has been implementing the program activities in 30 VDCs of five districts like Kavre, Dolakha, Surkhet, Dadeldhura and Baitadi. In the period between January to June 2005, 80 hectares of land is under summer vegetable seed production.

According to a report by the CEAPRED, total number of family engaged in seed production at present is 3577. Among them 820 (23 percent) are from deprived communities and 1546 (43.2 percent) are women. The total number of groups now stands at 212 with 39 deprived, 11 mixed and 162 others. Interestingly, it is aiming to benefit small farmers whose landholding is about 0.39 to 0.48 hectare.

Horticulture is gradually emerging as an important sector. Agriculture contributes about 38 percent to the GDP. In the total agricultural GDP, horticulture (vegetables, fruits and spices) contributes 13.76 percent while potato’s contribution is as high as 17.24 percent. In the total share of horticulture to agriculture GDP, the share of vegetable is as high as 46 percent. The Tenth Plan also points out vegetable as a potential sector for poverty alleviation. According to an estimate, as a high value commodity, area under vegetable cultivation is expected to increase by 4.94 percent in the Tenth Plan period (2002-2007).

As there has been increase in the area under vegetable cultivation, the demand for vegetable seeds has shot up. It is estimated that the demand of vegetable seed will be about 1000 metric tons at the end of 10 th plan. The government farms will produce only about 16 metric tons of foundation seed of different vegetables and the remaining will have to be supplied by private sector and small farmers.

Experts argue that vegetable seed falls under the low volume high value crops- which is capable to generate a large number of employment directly and indirectly - as well as they are important economical engines to generate cash income and the resultant effect is reduction of poverty.

At a time when Nepal Agriculture Research Council (NARC) and the Department of Agriculture have been doing limited research on vegetable seeds, private sectors and non-governmental organizations like CEAPRED are leading the field.

Having a well-established lab and modern processing units – where the quality test is conducted - CEPARED has been making every effort to improve the quality of locally produced seeds to promote export to other countries as well.

The project is expected to generate income of about Rs.33 million from 120 metric tons of quality vegetable seed production and marketing involving 32,00 farmers beginning from January 2004 to December 2006.

The success of the project is encouraging. During the period of January to June 2005, winter vegetable seed production and marketing was 51.247 metric tons with the total value of Rs.3, 574,934 and estimated summer seed production is about 31.75 metric tons with expected value of Rs.3,275, 000. A total of 1264.12 kg foundation source of seed have been distributed to seed growers for further multiplication.

“One of the aims of our program is to reduce poverty in deprived areas of Nepal through promotion of vegetable seeds. We have been implementing the program now in conflict prone areas of five districts Dadeldhura, Baitadi in far west, Surkhet in mid-west and Kavre and Dolakha in central region,” said Dr. Pius Raj Mishra, executive director of CEAPRED. “Our long involvement in the off-season vegetable production gives us much-needed know how to implement the program successfully.”

With the varieties of soils and climatic boon, the country has many comparative advantages for producing different types of vegetables seeds. Agriculture Perspective Plan (APP), a 20-years long-term agriculture program, also stresses on the need to promote the production of vegetable seeds in the country. Production and marketing of low volume and high value commodity such as vegetable seed is one of the strategies for reducing poverty and promoting economic growth in remote areas. Unlike fresh vegetables, vegetables seeds are non-perishable and can be transported to distant markets at relatively low cost.

Although Nepal ’s marginalized farmers have already shown how the vegetable production can transform their livelihood from merely subsistence-based to commercialized one, this program will give new dimension. One of the important aspects of the program is that all the members of deprived communities have been provided with foundation seed free of cost.

There is enough space to make profits in seed production. The projected demand of improved vegetable seed for 2004-05 is 1569 metric tons whereas the projected production from organized sector is only 817 metric tons. The potentialities of demand of vegetable seeds are ever increasing in Nepalese market. Contrary to the tremendous potentiality and climatic feasibility, even open pollinated vegetables seeds are being imported from India and abroad.

If the seed sector is organized properly, Nepal can produce almost all types of vegetable seed and can replace the import and promote export to neighboring countries like Bangladesh and India . This is the area where the populations of deprived communities like Pariyar and Karki can benefit from.

“Almost 50 percent of commercially required improved vegetable sees are met by in-country production and the rest is met mainly by import. There is also a very good prospect of exporting high quality vegetable seeds in large quantity,” said D.P. Adhikary, secretary general of Seed Entrepreneurs’ Association of Nepal. The commonly seed producing crops are mainly radish, beans, peas, broad leaf mustard, carrot, onion and cauliflower.”

The major vegetable seeds that are being exported from Nepal are Mino-early variety of Radish and the major importing countries are Bangladesh and India . Studies also reveal that there is huge export market potential for Nepali vegetable seed in Sri Lanka and Pakistan .

In the year 2003, the requirement of seed was 144 metric tons and the institutionalized seed production was just 675 metric tons - it met only 47 percent of the total demand. Nepal has been self sufficient in seed of temperate vegetable crops like radish, broad leaf mustard, cress, Swiss Chard, Nepali Spinach etc.

Until 1974, the vegetable seed productions concentrated in the government farms. The seed production was 1 metric ton in 1975, which increased to 763 metric tons in 2001/2002. This amount met 45 percent of total demand of the improved vegetable seed of the country.

Frequent Bandh

Frequent bandh (strikes) has led to highway disruptions troubling the vegetable producer farmers in different parts of the country. Thanks to the prolonged disruptions at times, the farmers have no option other than to throw their products in the road to protest against such acts.

After losses of millions of rupees annually by such disruptions, marginal vegetable growers have eyed vegetable seeds as viable alternative. Desperate and frustrated by frequent bandh and roadblocks, the farmers living in conflict prone zones could find solace in vegetable seeds, which are non-perishable and thus not much affected by such strikes.

Along with the farmers in the remote areas of Kavre district, other farmers in the roadsides also have now both the choice as to sell fresh vegetables or to produce seed. “Unlike fresh vegetable growers, the seed farmers need to carry just a small packet rather than a full bucket,” said Dr. Trailokya Nath Shrestha, project coordinator Promotion of Vegetables Seed for Poverty Reduction. “Our experiences have shown that the seed production is best suited in conflict prone zones.”

With the popularization of vegetable production as a profitable venture, the demands of vegetable seeds have grown up in local market and the farmers are even using up the imported seeds. Vegetable seed production has emerged as promising and growing enterprise in Nepal . From rural parts of the country to urban areas, there are a number of small and medium scale enterprises involved in the vegetable seed marketing.

“If a farmer produces the seed, these enterprises will go to the houses of farmers to buy them. What we are doing now is organizing meeting between entrepreneurs and farmers,” said Dr. Mishra.

The life of Kancha Tamang, a resident of Bhakundebeshi village Kavre districts, 40 km east of capital – has seen ups and downs. Tamang - who transformed his life by selling off-season vegetables, is now frustrated as frequent roadblocks and strikes called by Maoists have increased his miseries and worries.

“If there are disruptions and I cannot sell fresh vegetables, I have options now. I can generate money by producing seeds,” said Tamang who was also contacted by social mobilizer of CEAPRED.

The quality vegetable seeds availability contributes to the sustainability of fresh vegetable production in Nepal . As CEAPRED has its own laboratory to test the seeds, they maintain quality control. A total of 159 seed samples of farmers and other agencies have been tested at the CEAPRED laboratory for their germination, 1000 for seed weight, moisture and purity.

“It (fresh vegetable production) cannot be done in remote areas of the country where people tend to be generally poorer and there is no road. So what do we do for them? In the process of thinking, we have realized that we need some commodities that can have high value and low volume so that it can be carried to distant markets. More importantly that has to be non-perishable. Such commodities should not be spoiled even if the market is not available as quickly as for fresh vegetables. That is the reason we started promotion of vegetable seed production,” said Dr. Hari Krishna Upadhyaya, Chairman of CEAPRED. “Vegetable seed is compatible with the natural ecological diversity of Nepal - which is already being tapped by off-season vegetable. The ecological and climatic diversity provide unique opportunities to produce a range of high value commodities including vegetable seeds. Farmers can make two to three times as much as income from the small piece of land producing vegetable seeds than traditional cereal crop like maize and millet.”

As Nepal has already become a member of World Trade Organization (WTO), it has opened up challenges as well as opportunities. The involvement of a large number of farmers from deprived areas will help to reduce the poverty as well as change the present status of people.