Inter-regional project for participatory upland conservation and development
(Field Document 3/97) - Nepal - Participatory rural appraisal and planning in the Bhusunde Khola watershed from October 1995 to January 1996













Table of Contents


D.R. CHAPA, A. POUDYAL, H. QWIST-HOFFMANN, and F.M.J. OHLER

TCO: GCP/INT/542/ITA

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Gorkha, May 1997

This technical report is one of a series of reports prepared during the course of the project identified on the title page. The conclusions and recommendations given in the report are those considered appropriate at the time of its preparation. They may be modified in the light of further knowledge gained at subsequent stages of the project.

The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this document do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

This electronic document has been scanned using optical character recognition (OCR) software and careful manual recorrection. Even if the quality of digitalisation is high, the FAO declines all responsibility for any discrepancies that may exist between the present document and its original printed version.


Table of Contents


Abbreviations and acronyms

Foreword

0. Summary

1. Introduction

1.1 Background

1.1.1 General
1.1.2 Evolution of the project's participatory development approach
1.1.3 1992/93 Initial participatory assessment and planning
1.1.4 1993/94 PRA and participatory planning
1.1.5 1995/96 PRA and participatory planning

1.2 Objectives

1.2.1 Objectives of the 95/96 PRA and participatory planning
1.2.2 Objectives of this report

2. Methods, sites, organization and analysis

2.1 PRA methods and tools

2.1.1 PRA training
2.1.2 Common resource and user group inventory
2.1.3 PRA methods and tools used
2.1.4 Participatory planning methods and tools used

2.2 Organizational aspects

2.2.1 Site selection
2.2.2 Team formation
2.2.3 Venues and timing

2.3 Analysis and reporting

2.3.1 Analysis
2.3.2 Reporting

3. Results of the participatory rural appraisal

3.1 Population and demography

3.1.1 Population, community and household size
3.1.2 Ethnic and caste composition
3.1.3 Literacy
3.1.4 Socio-economic status and food sufficiency
3.1.5 Sources of income
3.1.6 Sanitary habits

3.2 Farming systems and land use

3.2.1 Farming systems overview
3.2.2 Major land use categories
3.2.3 Soil types

3.3 Crops and agricultural production

3.3.1 Cropping patterns and seasonal activities
3.3.2 Area covered by crops
3.3.3 Food grain varieties
3.3.4 Agricultural productivity and trend
3.3.5 Diseases and pests in crops
3.3.6 Problems and opportunities

3.4 Livestock and animal production

3.4.1 Livestock population and herd composition
3.4.2 Trend in animal production
3.4.3 Fodder and feed
3.4.4 Problems and opportunities

3.5 Forests and natural resources

3.5.1 Forest types
3.5.2 Production and use
3.5.3 Trends in forests and natural resources
3.5.4 Problems and opportunities

3.6 Summary of soil and water resources problem areas

4. The community action plans

4.1 General outline
4.2 Planned physical activities
4.3 Planned training activities

5. Conclusions

5.1 Quality and quantity of the PRA exercises

5.1.1 Quality
5.1.2 Quantity

5.2 Quality and quantity of the community action plans

5.2.1 Consistency of PRAs and planned activities
5.2.2 Quantity of activities in the caps

6. Recommendations

6.1 Participatory monitoring and evaluation
6.2 Participatory appraisal and planning in other watersheds