Between the elevations of 1 000 and 2 000 m in the mid-hills of Nepal, over 12 million people subsist on land-holdings of less than 0.5 hectare. Farmers rely on rainfall and organic manures for soil fertility maintenance. A declining soil fertility is of increasing concern in the Bari lands (upper slope rainfed crop terraces). However, nutrient losses due to leaching and erosion can be minimized by economically and culturally viable land, soil and water management techniques. This builds upon the sophisticated local knowledge of the movement of water across soil combined with existing scientific data, and promoting them through participatory approaches to the design of technologies.