Degraded land in Nuwakot. Photo credit: ©FAO/Vidhu Kayastha

Nuwakot- Banchare is a small village in Tadi Rural Municipality-5 of Nuwakot, located about 30 meters above the Saureni landslide area in central Nepal. Twenty-one families with agriculture as the major source of livelihood live in the village. About 50 percent of families’ agricultural land, especially paddy fields, is situated in and around the Saureni landslide area.

“Thirty years ago, the topography of the Saureni area was flat, with large terraces, and productive for farming,” said Buddhi Bahadur Tamang, a resident of Banchare. “Later, gullies and cracks formed gradually in the area. Moreover, landslides that often took place for more than 25 years broke the terraces into small pieces and resulted in degraded land.”

In January 2017, after a series of assessments and discussions with the landslide-affected community, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Community and Rural Development Society Nepal launched an OFDA/USAID funded landslide mitigation project in Saureni. More than 30 years of landslides resulted in gullies and cracks resulting in agricultural land being abandoned. Furthermore, the earthquake of 2015 accelerated the landslides, resulting into bigger cracks and slides. The landslide directly impacted agricultural fields and irrigation canals and caused threats to human settlements (10 households) in the area. Moreover, extensive cracks and slides in agriculture land, spatial movement of land and disruption of irrigation systems resulted in the community’s reluctance to farm in the affected areas.

After carrying out focus group discussions and frequent interactions with the landslide-affected community, it was decided to adopt farm-based agroforestry practices in the degraded land with the combination of seedlings for fodder, horticultural and cash crops including soil conserving species, to enrich affected people’s livelihoods. Major fruit species planted by the local communities include banana, lemon, litchi, coffee and guava.

“We have been suffering from this landslide for several years. Now, I am happy with the project activities and I am participating in each and every activity of the project”, said 85-year- old Rom Prasad Khanal.
Her daughter, Saraswoti Khanal added, “We have planted fodder seedlings of badahar, bamboo and kimbu and soil-conserving grass species such as broom grass, peanut grass and mullato in the cracked zone, with the hope of proper water management and reduced future landslide risks”.

The nutritious fodder and grass will be a major source of livestock feed, which is an important part of rural livelihoods. In addition, the community planted cash crops such as szechuan-pepper, cinnamon, coffee and ginger in their farmland.
Ram Chandra Khanal, a young farmer, is participating in activities including planting fruit and fodder seedlings in a paddy field. He is hopeful that recent bio-engineering and other structural measures will esnure slope stability and gully control. According to Ram Krishna Khanal, Coordinator of the Saureni Landslide Mitigation Committee, the community has decided to plant banana instead of paddy crops, as water is the main cause of accelerated soil erosion and landslides. Community members have planted 2 000 banana seedlings in one hectare of paddy field.

The project aims to enhance the resilience of the community to cope with hazards by increasing income as a disaster risk reduction measure.