20152014/152071/72

FORWARD Nepal

Annual Report

Forum for Rural Welfare and Agricultural Reform for Development

(FORWARD Nepal)

P.O.Box 11 (Bhp)Bharatpur, Chitwan, Nepal

Tel: +977 56 527623/527734

Email: ctwforward@wlink.com.np; forward@ntc.net.np

Website: www.forwardnepal.org

FORWARD Nepal

VisionFORWARD seeks a pleasant and self-reliant society in

which all people live in dignity and prosperity.

MissionFORWARD facilitates disadvantaged people to fulfi ll

their basic needs through technology generation, social mobilization, advocacy and optimum utilization of available

resources in a participatory approach.

GoalFORWARD aims to reduce poverty of the communities

through integrated and sustainable development interventions.

Foreword 5

Abbreviations and Acronyms 6

A Brief Introduction to FORWARD Nepal 7

1. Sustainable Integrated Farming System (SIFS) in South Asia 13

2. Agricultural Learning Exchange for Asian Regional Networking (AgLEARN) 16

3. Household Economic Security (HES) Programme in Morang District 18

4. Riverbed Farming in Banke, Siraha, Saptari, Sunsari, Morang and Jhapa Districts 20

5. Improving Livelihoods of Smallholder Dairy Farmers through Feed Management in Kailali District 21

6. Improving Food Security through Community Based Seed Production Initiatives in Surkhet District 23

7. Adoption of Improved Maize Varieties in the Hills of Nepal and the Impact of Community Based Seed Production 24

8. Child Centered Climate Change Adaptation (4CA) Project 25

9. Consulting Services to Develop Appropriate Agricultural Training Package for Nirdhan Utthan Bank Limited (NUBL) 27

10. Multi Stakeholder Forestry Programme (MSFP) - Implementation of Forest-Based Enterprise Promotion Programme in Bajura and Doti Districts 29

11. Promoting Green Economy in Hill Areas of Nepal and Bangladesh 32

12. Transfer, Evaluation and Dissemination of an Innovative Fertilizer Management Tool (Nutrient Expert) for Increasing Crop Yields and Farmers’ Income in Eastern Nepal 34

13. Community Practice in Schools for Learning Climate Change Adaptation (COPILA) 36

14. Enhancing Food Security through Scaling Up of Climate Smart Practices in Rice-Lentil System in Dang, Banke, Bardiya and Kailali District 37

15. Enhancing Livelihood of Chepangs in Siddhi VDC of Chitwan through Beekeeping Development 38

16. Enhancing Livelihood of Smallholder Farmers in Central Terai District of Nepal (ELIVES) 39

17. Vegetable Seed Distribution for Earthquake Affected Households in Chitwan District 40

18. Agro/Livestock Business Promotion Training Programme 41

18. Socio-Economic Study on Maize Production and Evaluation and Dissemination of Nutrient Expert+ Tool Based on Farmer Typologies in Eastern Terai of Nepal 42

Collaboration and Linkage 44

Publication 47

Audit Report 2071/72 (2014/15) 49

Contents

5

ForewordIt has been a wonderful year for all of us at FORWARD Nepal, and we are pleased to share with you this Annual Report of the fiscal year 2071/72 B.S. (Mid July 2014 to Mid July 2015). This annual report spotlights the programmes conducted, fund mobilized during the year, human resources, and publications.

Over the past year, our work continued for the implementation of 21 on-going projects, documentation and reporting of 6 phased out projects, development of proposals and exploration for external funding projects/support. Enormous efforts were made for joint projects bidding with national and international partners for new programmes and to some extent we are successful in achieving new partnership to serve the disadvantaged communities through our projects. Furthermore our efforts have bestowed us multi-partnership project bidding experience.

As we all know that the devastating earthquake of 25th April 2015, with a magnitude of 7.8 struck Nepal with its epicenter in Gorkha district resulted in loss of many lives and homes. In this shocking situation, we also tried to assist the earthquake affected people in some of the communities in Chitwan district through distribution of common and seasonal vegetable seeds and training as immediate post recovery programme and made financial contribution to the district disaster relief fund managed by the District Disaster Management Committee. Furthermore, our endeavor are continuous to work in this pivotal matter.

In the year 2071-72, we directly employed 78 staff. Besides many staff were hired by the partner organizations in various districts as we implement projects through local partners. Turnover of the staff in the organization has been a natural phenomenon this year as well but we are capable and confident enough to manage and hire competent human resource required for our programmes. We always look for creative, dynamic, competent, energetic, committed and flexible personnel with workforce diversity whenever hiring the staff and provide them lively working environment. It is worth mentioning that we are much encouraged

Naba Raj Devkota, PhD Chairperson

Netra Pratap SenExecutive Director

from the support and suggestions we have been receiving for our institutional development from our previous employees and members no matter where they are. It shows how we worked harmoniously in the organization. For this, we would like to extend our heartiest thanks to our former employees. We would also like to extend our sincere appreciation to the staff currently employed in the organization for their dedication and diligence to serve the communities for whom we work.

Regarding our future plan, as the projects are lifeline of NGOs, project collaborations and partnership will always be our priority both at national and international level. Besides, our own income generation activities will be another important task for the sustainability of the organization. We are equally responsible to review and follow the five years strategic plan of the organization.

In the context of publishing this annual report, we would like to take an opportunity to thank our donor agencies in trusting us for the programmes. Our special thanks also goes to our project collaborating partners, communities where we have worked government and private sectors, who supported us for our programmes to help the needy communities around us. We would also like to thank our founder members, members of executive committee, advisors and auditors, without their support, encouragement and suggestions we would not have been able to stand at the present platform. We are eager to see what we can do in the years ahead to bring positive changes in the lives of people through sustainable development interventions.

6

Abbreviations and Acronyms

4CA Child-Centered Climate Change AdaptionABPTP Agro/Livestock Business Promotion

Training ProgrammeAgLEARN Agricultural Learning Exchange for Asian

Regional NetworkingAFU Agriculture and Forestry UniversityAIP Activity Implementation PlanAIT Asian Institute of TechnologyBMZ Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation

and DevelopmentCBOs Community Based OrganizationsCBSP Community Based Seed ProductionCC Climate ChangeCCA Climate Change AdaptationCDMC Community Disaster Management

Committee CDRMP Community Disaster Risk Management

PlanCFUGs Community Forest GroupsCIMMYT International Maize and Wheat

Improvement CentreCOPILA Community Practice in Schools for

Learning Climate Change AdaptationCSDRM Climate Smart Disaster Risk ManagementCSISA Cereal Systems Initiatives for South Asia DADO District Agriculture Development OfficeDAGs Disadvantaged GroupsDAYS Devi Acquire Youth ServiceDLSO District Livestock Service OfficeDOA Department of AgricultureDRM Disaster Risk ManagementECO ECO ClubED Entrepreneurship DevelopmentELIVES Enhancing Livelihoods of Smallholder

Farmers in Central Terai Districts of NepalFFD Farmer’s Field DayFFS Farmer’s Field SchoolFGD Focus Group DiscussionFORWAD Forum for Rural Welfare & Agricultural

Reform for DevelopmentFtF Feed the FutureFY Fiscal YearGoN Government of NepalGOs Government OrganizationsHBDT Himalayan Bio-dynamic Development

Trust

HES Household Economic SecurityHHs HouseholdsHMRP Hill Maize Research ProgrammeIAAS Institute of Agriculture and Animal ScienceICS Improved Cooking StoveILRI International Livestock Research Institute IOM International Organization for MigrationIPNI International Plant Nutrition InstituteLDRMP Local Disaster Risk Management Plan LFUGs Local Forest User GroupsLRT Local Resource TeamMISS Malika Integrated Social ServiceMoAD Ministry of Agriculture DevelopmentMoLE Ministry of Labor and EmploymentMOU Memorandum of UnderstandingMPFG Multi-Purpose Farmers GroupMSFP Multi Stakeholder Forestry ProgrammeMSFP-IAs Multi Stakeholder Forestry Programme-

Implementing AgenciesMSFP-SSU Multi Stakeholder Forestry Programme-

Service Support UnitNARC Nepal Agriculture Research CouncilNE Nutrient ExpertNMDP National Market Development ProgrammeNTFPs Non Timber Forest ProductsNUBL Nirdhan Utthan Bank LimitedPCVA Participatory Climate Vulnerability

AssessmentPMCA Participatory Market Chain AnalysisRbF Riverbed Vegetable FarmingRDC Rural Development CentreRDMA Regional Development Mission for AsiaRDSC Rural Development Service CentreRRHHs Remittance Receiving HouseholdsRMs Returnee MigrantsSB Stemphyllium BlightSIFS Sustainable Integrated Farming SystemSSA Sub sector AnalysisSPSS Statistical Package for Social SciencesTNA Training Need AssessmentUSAID United States Agency for International

DevelopmentVDCs Village Development CommitteesWHH Welthungerhilfe

7

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO FORWARD NEPAL

FORWARD Nepal, a non-profit, service-

oriented, national, non-governmental

organization established in 1997 to help

disadvantaged groups and the rural poor, is

registered at the District Administration Office,

Chitwan, and affiliated to the Social Welfare Council,

Nepal. The organization aims at reducing poverty of

marginalized communities through integrated and

sustainable development interventions. It provides

forum to researchers, development professionals,

rural artisans, private sectors, academia, grass root

level organizations and funding agencies committed

to change the quality of lives of underprivileged

people in Nepal. The organization is governed

by the Executive Board elected by the General

Assembly. It provides policy direction and guidance

to the organization. Executive Director implements

the policy decisions of its board and manages the

day-to-day operation of the organization while the

Programme Management Team led by Programme

Director carry out programme planning, execution,

monitoring and reporting of its programmes

undertaken by the organization.

Over the past 18 years, the organization

has implemented 76 projects in 53 districts

representing Terai, Mid Hills, High Hills, as

well as Mountains involving a total of 380,726

direct beneficiaries. Currently, it has 21 ongoing

projects. During the reporting period a total of 78

staffs were directly employed by the organization

for its programmes; of them 32 are officers from

diverse professional backgrounds for managing

the projects. Besides, 8 consultants and 20

enumerators were engaged for the projects

baseline survey and studies. Among the 21

ongoing projects, three projects are implemented

through district based NGO partners including

hiring of project staff by them. Furthermore, 2

staffs are on abroad study leave, there are also

affiliated professional members and founder

members whose services are taken on need

basis. The organization has acquired 5.15

kattha of its land in Bharatpur Municipality-13

(Kalyanpur), Chitwan for its office building. It is

also a major shareholder in Global Agri-Tech

Nepal (P). Ltd, Banke where it has invested NPR

19,300,000.

FORWARD Nepal emphasizes in collaboration

and partnership with GOs, I/NGOs, research

institutions, academia, private sectors and

public media at national/international levels and

community based organizations as appropriate

for greater impacts of its programmes,

resource generation/sharing, knowledge, skills,

experience sharing, and learning. It has MOU

with various concerned institutions like GOs,

Universities, I/NOGs and private sectors both

at National and International level for project

collaboration, partnership and sharing of work

experiences and learning from each other.

Above all, 5 year’s road map of FORWARD

Nepal has already been developed and its

implementation is gradually moving ahead based

on its practicability and capacity of resources.

Programme Thematic Areas

FORWARD is committed to promote sustainable

livelihoods of resource-poor communities through

optimum management of available resources.

Programme implementation is multi-pronged,

integrating key interventions both in horizontal

and vertical dimensions to ensure positive

socio-economic impacts on the communities.

The organization has four Programme thematic

areas with the following interventions:

8

i) Food Security and Sustainable Livelihoods• Food crops

• High value commodities (cash crops,

fisheries, and livestock)

• Farm forestry and Non Timber Forest

Products (NTFPs)

• Small infrastructures (irrigation, collection

centres, storage, livestock sheds,

community seed banks and resource

centres)

• Farm mechanization

ii) Business Promotion and Market Development• Enterprise development

• Installation of small processing plants

• Value addition

• Market networking

iii) Participatory Research and Development • Participatory innovation and technology

development

• Development studies and technology

dissemination

iv) Natural Resource Management• Biodiversity conservation and optimum

utilization

• Environment friendly and climate change

resilient technology

• Disaster risk reduction and emergency

response

• Ecosystem health

• Promotion of alternative energy

V) Cross-cutting themes• Gender and social inclusion

• Capacity building

• Participatory monitoring and evaluation

• Climate change& DRR

• Advocacy and policy lobbying

• Institutionalization

Strategies/Approaches

• Devise a value chain approach for selected

sub-sectors within agriculture, livestock,

forestry, and other natural resource

management.

• Actively engage target communities through

social mobilization in research, capacity

building and development interventions

ensuring the realization of their stakes and

ownerships for their own development.

• Promote participatory action research

simultaneously with development activitiesfor technology generation and dissemination.

• Address genderand social inclusion issues

by ensuring participation of disadvantaged

members of the community at every step of

development programmes.

• Promote innovative technical interventions

combining local knowledge, skills and

resources for livelihood improvement.

• Facilitate employment opportunities through

vocational trainings and income generation

activities targeted for youths.

• Develop and institutionalize local resource

persons, local resource centres, and

community based organizations for the

sustainability of the systems developed.

• Facilitate learning and sharing platform as

appropriate to like minded institutions and

individuals for working with the deprived

communities.

• Seek collaboration with various stakeholders

including governmental and non-

governmental organizations, academia,

corporate and funding agencies at local,

national and international levels as

appropriate for sharing knowledge, skills,

experiences and other resources.

9

Organizational Structure

General Assembly Executive CommitteeBoard

External Auditor

Director (Programme)

Director (Planning)

Director/Coordinator (Administration & Finance)

Programme Leader(Food Security and

Livelihoods)

Programme Leader(Business

Promotion & Market Development)

Programme Leader(Natural Resource Management)

Programme Leader (Participatory Research and

Development)

Coordinator- Consultancy- GESI- M & E- Info & Pub.

Coordinator-Administration-Finance-Procurement

Subje

ct M

atte

r Spe

cialis

tsPr

ogra

mm

e The

mat

ic Le

ader

s

Senior Programme O�cer

Senior Programme O�cer

Senior Programme O�cer

Senior Programme O�cer

Senior O�cers

SAO/AO

Finance O�cer

Project Coordinator /Programme

O�cer

Project Coordinator /Programme

O�cer

Project Coordinator /Programme

O�cer

ProjectCoordinator/Programme

O�cer

Admin Support Sta�

Accountants

Projects

Advisory Board

Internal Auditor

Governance

The Executive Committee or Board elected by

the General Assembly provides overall policy

direction and guidance to the organization.

All the Board members are volunteers who

contribute in reviewing and formulating policies

and goals as necessary. The Chairperson

and founder members collectively provide

patronage to the organization. The Executive

Committee delegates its authority to the

Executive Director to hold responsibility for

implementing policy decisions and day-to-day

management of the organization while the

Directors lead their team of multidisciplinary

specialists for overall execution of their

respective programmes run by the organization.

Moreover, projects are managed by the Project

Leader/Coordinators while the centre oversees

its credibility and accountability.

Chairperson

Executive Director

10

Programme Highlights

During the year 2014/15, FORWARD Nepal implemented 21 projects across 41 districts of the country.

This section describes the projects and key activities implemented and the progress made during the

reporting period.

Table 1: Summary of FORWARD implemented projects, 2014/15

S.N. Name of the Projects Districts Project Duration

Budget (2014/15)

(NPR)*

Number of Bene�ciaries/

HouseholdsFunding Source

1Sustainable Integrated Farming System (SIFS) in South Asia

Chitwan Nov 2011 - Dec 2014 6,715,920 1513 WHH-BMZ

2Agricultural Learning Exchange for Asian Regional Networking

Chitwan, Surkhet, Banke

Jun 2013 - May 2016 1,534,839 349 USAID/

RDMA

3Household Economic Security (HES) Programme in Morang District

MorangJul 2013

-Jun 2016

8,832,470 330 Plan Nepal

4 Riverbed Vegetable FarmingBanke, Jhapa, Morang, Sunsari, Saptari

Jul 2011 -Jun 2016 3,926,106 1834 Elam Plus/

Helvetas

5

Improving Livelihoods of smallholder dairy farmers through feed management in Kailali district

KailaliMar 2013

-Sep 2015

3,257,356 700 ILRI

6

Improving Food Security through Community Based Seed Production Initiatives in Surkhet District

Surkhet2011

-2014

769,055 1125 SDC /CIMMYT

7National Market Development Programme (NMDP) – Dairy Subsector

Nawalparasi , Chitwan, Udayapur

May 2013 -Nov 2014 638,165 NA UKAid/ ASI

8

Adoption of Improved Maize Varieties in the Hills of Nepal and the Impact of Community Based Seed Production

Dhading, Palpa, Gulmi, Dailekh, Surkhet, Nuwakot, Makwanpur, Gorkha, Tanahun, Arghakhanchi & Rukum

Sept 2013-

Oct 20145,167,144 630 CIMMYT/

HMRP

9 Child-Centered Climate Change Adaption (4CA) Sunsari, Morang

Nov 2013-

Dec 2015 5,240,523 700 Plan Nepal

11

S.N. Name of the Projects Districts Project Duration

Budget (2014/15)

(NPR)*

Number of Bene�ciaries/

HouseholdsFunding Source

10

Capacity enhancement of Returnee Migrants and Remittance Receiving Households (RRHHs)of Chitwan District through Agro/Livestock Business Promotion

ChitwanMar 2014

-Feb 2015

2,402,331 244 IOM

11 Baseline Survey for Feed the Future Nepal

Dailekh, Jajarkot, Rukum, Surkhet, Salyan, Rolpa, Pyuthan, Dang, Banke, Bardiya, Baitadi, Palpa, Dadeldhura, Kanchanpur, Doti, Achham, Kailali, Arghakhanchi, Gulmi, Kapilvastu

Apr 2014-

Aug 20143,220,767 1987 USAID

12Consulting Services to Develop Appropriate Agricultural Training Package

Ilam, Bara, Parsa, Jhapa, Sunsari

Apr 2014-

Sep 20142,701,820 473 World

Bank

13 Multi Stakeholder Forestry Programme (MSFP) Doti & Bajura Nov 2014 -

Jul 2016 7,420,903 SDC/GoF/DFID

14Promotion of Green Economy in the Hill Areas of Nepal and Bangladesh

ChitwanJan 2015

-Dec 2015

1,032,750 1513 BMZ/WHH

15

Transfer, Evaluation and Dissemination of an Innovative Fertilizer Management Tool (Nutrient Expert) for increasing crop yields and farmers’ income

Jhapa & MorangSep 2014

- Oct 2016

1,259,090 200IPNI/NRNA Australia

16Community Practice in Schools for Learning Climate Change Adaptation (COPILA)

BankeJun 2015

-Dec 2015

68,892 200 Swiss/HELVETAS

17

Enhancing food security through scaling up of climate smart agricultural practices in Rice-lentil system in Dang, Banke, Bardia and Kailali districts.

Dang, Banke, Bardia, Kailali

May 2015 -

Apr 2016536,383 2000

USAID/Winrock

12

S.N. Name of the Projects Districts Project Duration

Budget (2014/15)

(NPR)*

Number of Bene� ciaries/

HouseholdsFunding Source

18

Improving the livelihood of poor households in Siddhi VDC of Chitwan through beekeeping development

ChitwanFeb 2015

-Jan 2016

79,815 36 WHH

19

Enhancing Livelihoods of Smallholder Farmers in Central Terai Districts of Nepal (ELIVES)

Bara, Rautahat, Sarlahi, Mahottari

Apr 2015-

Apr 2018292,958 3000 ADRA-UK/

iDE

20

Vegetable seed distribution for earthquake victims (including NPR 160,125 from FORWARD team)

ChitwanJun 2015

-Oct 2015

836,615 1943 WHH

21

Socioeconomic study on maize production and evaluation and dissemination of NE+ tool based on farmer typologies in eastern Terai of Nepal

Jhapa & MorangApr 2015

- May 2016

22,380 180 IPNI

Total Programme Expenses 55,956,282

River Bed Farming, Morang

13

SUSTAINABLE INTEGRATED FARMING SYSTEM (SIFS) IN SOUTH ASIA

Sustainable integrated farming system

(SIFS) in South Asia project aimed to

ensure food and nutrition security and

livelihood promotion of marginal communities.

The SIFS project was implemented from

November 2011 to December 2014 in three

South Asian countries Nepal, Bangladesh,

and India with the fi nancial and technical

assistance from Welthungerhilfe (WHH) and

Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and

Development (BMZ). FORWARD Nepal as the

lead implementing agency and the Himalayan

Bio-dynamic Development Trust (HBDT) as a

partner of FORWARD Nepal implemented the

SIFS project in Siddhi and Shaktikhor VDCs of

Chitwan district. The project covered 1,513 farm

households organized into 70 groups (farmer’s

groups, community forest user’s groups,

leasehold forest user’s groups, seed producer’s

groups, farmer’s cooperatives, and market

management committees).

From the very fi rst, efforts were made to improve

the farm production and productivity through

capacitating farmers on farm management and

resource mobilization, so as to enhance the

livelihood of rural farmers. The SIFS project

provided a wider perspective considering

multiple aspects as food and nutrition security,

sustainable livelihood promotion, women

empowerment, alternative energy, local product

promotion, community education support, and

others. Considering these aspects, the project

activities and supports concentrated on the

capacity building trainings, developing local

and group specifi c SIFS models, soil and water

management practice, seed production and

storage, home gardening, organic farming, high

Commercial Vegetable Production, Shaktikhor, Chitwan

14

value commodity production, and increasing

access to local and national market. Besides,

the project enhanced the linkage and access

to government agencies, which cannot be

overlooked. The project performed different

sharing events with and among stakeholders,

partners, and line agencies on regular basis,

which helped the effective implementation

through harnessing the received feedbacks and

lesson learnt from each phase.

The major outputs of the project are the

establishment of a collection center in Siddhi

VDC, PGS workshop in Chitwan, and micro

irrigation support. Besides, the project arranged

a visit for cooperative cum leader farmers to

market information centers established by

DADO. A documentary covering the major

outputs and achievements of the entire project

period broadcasted through a regional television

(Avass TV) for scaling up the SIFS technologies

on a broader scale.

With the end of the project, it succeeded to

diversify farm production and income generation

thereby attaining food and nutrition security

of marginal households. The diversifi ed farm

products and orientation to farmers about the

nutrition requirement brought changes in the

consumption habit to more than 50% of the targeted

households. Farm households are adapting

integrated approach on their farming system,

resource persons/farmers are developed locally,

and the sale of surplus farm products at local level

has increased. The foliar fertilizer, cattle shed

improvement, and kitchen fi shery are noticed as

successful technologies of the project. The market-

based initiative of strengthening market linkages

through the establishment of the community-based

market centers is the major impact of the project on

the community. The capacity building of farmers in

technical and managerial aspects of production,

processing and marketing became the important

component of the SIFS project. After three years

of relentless effort, the SIFS project ended with

considerable achievements. The project left the

farm households in project areas greatly improved

and changed, and these changes are expected to

be sustainable.

Commercial Vegetable Production, Siddhi, Chitwan

15

San Bahadur Tamang (29) is a young

energetic farmer residing in Ward No. 2

of Siddhi VDC, Chitwan. He joined the

Pragati MPFG three years ago formed by the

SIFS Project and has been working as Secretary

of the group since then. He has two sons and

one daughter, and living with his wife and in-

laws. He owns 0.92 acre of lowland and 0.25

acre of upland; accordingly, he has 1.17 acre

of land. However, before the implementation of

the project, he could not make good production

and utilization of available land due to the lack

of knowledge, skills, and capability. It was tough

to manage year round food supply for the

household because they had low productivity

from their fields.

Through SIFS Project, Mr. Tamang received

various trainings as preparation of liquid manure,

vegetable farming, compost management,

nursery management, seed storage and

management, hybrid forage production,

goat rearing, mushroom cultivation, and

entrepreneurship development training. With the

knowledge gained in the trainings, he wanted to

be an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurship Development Training – Enhanced Business Skills

During the SIFS project, as a subsidy, he got 42

iron sheets and metal net wiring for construction

of a poultry farm. Since last year, with his own

investment of NRs. 80,000, he has been rearing

400 broilers twice and has been able to make an

income of NRs. 40,000 in a single flock. He has

also presented himself as a commercial beekeeper

in the village. He has 30 beehives and make

considerable income of about NRs. 175,000 yearly.

Mr. Tamang has also grown pasture grass, fodder

in his field. So, due to the availability of enough

animal fodder and grass, he has easily managed

to rear 17 goats, 2 cows and local hens from which

he became able to make NRs. 50,000 in a year.

Furthermore, the follow-up trainings from Green

Economy project, especially entrepreneurship

development training has greatly helped to widen

his knowledge and business skills. He has earned

NRs. 50,000 from 300 broilers (chicken) this year.

He is planning to increase 10 more beehives.

He use the earnings for his children education,

household works, and invest in beekeeping and

poultry farming. With great effort and dedication,

he has been improving financially and socially

and has developed himself as a role model for his

fellow villagers.

16

AGRICULTURAL LEARNING EXCHANGE FOR ASIAN REGIONAL NETWORKING (AgLEARN)

Agricultural Learning Exchange for Asian

Regional Networking (AgLEARN) is a

project awarded by the United States

Agency for International Development (USAID)/

Regional Development Mission for Asia (RDMA)

to a consortium of partners led by the Asian

Institute of Technology (AIT) for the duration of

three years starting from 22 May, 2013 to 21

May, 2016. AgLEARN project contributes directly

to two specifi c areas of strategic investment of

USAID Feed the Future (FtF) initiative in Asia

that is (i) improvement of overall farm productivity

through sustainable agricultural practices and

(ii) promotion of high-quality, high-value crops

with the aim of enabling smallholder farmers to

increase their income per unit land and labor

input by linking them to appropriate niche markets

through accessible supply/marketing chains. The

project aims at improving agricultural production

in three developing countries of South and

South-East Asia: Bangladesh, Cambodia and

Nepal. The project consists of two institutions as

technology receiving and disseminating partners

in each program countries. In addition, there

are two renowned Universities from Thailand,

two institutions from India and a network of US-

based HORT CRSP from India, Thailand and

United States of America as collaborators for

providing innovative technologies to the target

groups.

In Nepal, NARC and FORWARD Nepal are

jointly implementing the project activities in two

agro-ecological zones, i.e. Mid-hills and the Terai

of Nepal. The Shaktikhor VDC of Chitwan and

Kunathari VDC of Surkhet districts represent the

Mid-hills, while Baijapur VDC of Banke district

represents the Terai. The main activities of the

project included the on-farm testing of technologies

and fi eld demonstration of the technologies used.

Plastic Mulching, Surkhet

17

The beneficiary households were 60 (20 from each

districts) in second year of the project.

Capacity building

AgLEARN field manager from each country

(Nepal, Bangladesh and Cambodia) were trained

on the project. In order to enhance the capacities

of farmer, three farmers were chosen from Nepal

for one month internship at AIT, Thailand. The

internship was for learning various innovative

technologies like Herbal steam, Wood Vinegar,

Trichoderma spp., Plastic mulching, Bokashi

manure and so on that were proven technologies

in different countries.

On-farm testing of technologies

Technologies which were learned from the

internship were used for testing in farmer’s

field. As main objective of the project was to

disseminate the technologies which have favored

the productivity of crop, field demonstration was

crucial. In Banke, technologies tested were

Trichoderma in Onion (Nasik-53) and Drip

Irrigation in Bittergourd this year. Similarly, Bio-

fertilizer in Onion (Nasik-53) and Fermented

Fruit Juice in Bittergourd was used in Surkhet,

while Bokashi manure in four-season bean and

Wood vinegar in Tomato was used in Chitwan.

National level workshop

The workshop was conducted to share the

outcomes of previous year and to choose the

crop and technologies for upcoming season.

In the National Workshop, Dr. Ram Bhujel, the

Deputy Chief of Party, AgLEARN-USAID/RDMA,

Dr. Tara Bahadur Ghimire, Seed and Technology

Director, NARC, Mr. Netra Pratap Sen, Executive

Director, FORWARD Nepal, Mr. Ram Krishna

Neupane, Program Director and Ms. Manita Ale,

AgLEARN Field Manager of FORWARD Nepal

participated. Farmer's representatives presented

review of progress and suggested new areas of

intervention in the project sites.

Field Demonstration, Banke

18

HOUSEHOLD ECONOMIC SECURITY (HES) PROGRAMME IN MORANG DISTRICT

Commercial Vegetable Farming, Morang

FORWARD Nepal in partnership with

Plan Nepal has been implementing the

“Household Economic Security Program” in

Morang District since 2013. The project has been

implemented to improve the livelihoods of the most

deprived and socially excluded families through the

intervention of appropriate technologies focusing

on niche based capacity building of farmers and

advocacy work. It is targeted to reduce the poverty

of the people with a focus on ultra-poor families

living in the project area. Economically poor,

landless, resource poor and vulnerable families

were intervened through agriculture technologies

and strengthening of community based

organization and groups. This year the project

especially focused on the sponsor child families,

home garden program, group based vegetable

production, agro-forestry promotion, riverbed

19

vegetable cultivation, support to vulnerable families

and facilitation of HES committee at VDC level,

and technical support to the commercial vegetable

producer groups.

Accomplishments

A total of 60 families earned average NRs.

22,377 per household by selling of vegetables

through involvement in agro-forestry.

A total 80 families were benefi tted from the

activity home garden support for child nutrition.

They have increased daily consumption of fresh

and nutritious vegetables.

A total of 150 families earned average NRs.

56,258 per household by selling of vegetables

through their involvement in group base

vegetable production.

A total of 20 families affi liated to Riverbed

vegetable farming earned average NRs. 33,830

per household by selling of vegetables.

A total of 18 agro-vet entrepreneurs participated

in 6 days long agro-vet management training.

Agri exhibition support to DADO, vulnerable

families support: 7 families (vegetable marketing

equipment, Thela, Rickshaw, weighing balance

sets and poultry farming)

10 small irrigation scheme support to group

based vegetable producers and agro forestry

program.

Scholarship support to 14 sponsorship child’s

study on agriculture, health and other skill

developments.

Community Vegetable Farming, Morang

20

Climate change is a serious and ongoing

threat to human and development

process, which will advance burdens

to poor and vulnerable (IPCC, 2001). Nepal is

also highly affected by climate change (GoN,

2011) that leads to count Nepal as a hotspot of

climate change and disaster vulnerability. As a

consequence of climate change, landslides, soil

erosion, fl ash fl oods, droughts and famine have

been nation-wide issues and are in increasing

trends. Heavy fl oods during the rainy season

have converted a large area of lands as waste-

land in many parts of Terai Nepal. Due to the

above mentioned reasons, there is signifi cant

area in Nepal under riverbeds and riverbank, and

the area is increasing every year.

Thousands of families have been displaced from

their farming profession to the landless situation.

The agriculture sector is adversely affected by

climate change and the rural poor are the most

vulnerable groups leading to unsustainable

livelihood.

To address the issue of increasing riverbeds and

riverbanks, FORWARD Nepal in collaboration

with HELVETAS has been empowering farming

communities in selected VDCs of Jhapa,

Morang, Banke, Sunsari and Saptari districts

to adapt to the hazards resulted due to climate

change. In these contexts, a total of 1834

benefi ciary households organized into 89 groups

were capacitated in cultivation of vegetables

in riverbeds, and provided supports on seed,

fertilizer and irrigation equipment. Benefi ciary

HHs produced a total of 2852 mt vegetables

and earned household average gross income

ranging from NRs 6,139 at Saptari to NRs

58,777 per household at Jhapa.

RIVERBED FARMING IN BANKE, SIRAHA, SAPTARI, SUNSARI MORANG AND JHAPA DISTRICTS

Marketing of Riverbed Farming Products, Morang

Stakeholders Monitoring at Riverbed Farming Site, Jhapa

21

IMPROVING LIVELIHOODS OF SMALLHOLDER DAIRY FARMERS THROUGH FEED MANAGEMENT IN KAILALI DISTRICT

Improving livelihoods of smallholder dairy

farmers through feed management in Kailali

district is a project run by FORWARD Nepal

through grant funds provided by International

Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). The project

has a focus on animal feed management to

increase milk production and productivity per unit

animal. The project has been implemented since

March, 2013 in fi ve VDCs namely Malakheti,

Geta, Sripur, Beladevipur and Chaumala of

Kailali district. These VDCs are regarded as

the pocket sites for milk production in that

district. Altogether 700 households organized

into 27 groups are directly participating in the

programme.

The project capacitated 649 farmers involving

84% women in livestock feeding and clean milk

production through organizing 27 events of

group level training, Agrovet trainings provided

to 19 participants, knowledge shared among

415 project and non-project farmer participants

through the organization of farmers fi eld schools

(FFS), de-worming against internal parasites

particularly tapeworm done among 1787 animal

heads belonging to 567 households of fi ve VDCs,

and 11 model animal shed constructed in project

VDCs on cost sharing basis. To bring synergy

in the promotion of feeds/fodder in the district,

two events were organized in overlapping VDCs

of CSISA-II/CIMMYT and the livestock feed

management project e.g. Facilitation on Maize

Stover (CIMMYT Promoted), Scaling out of the

Knowledge skill to other CSISA (Agronomy)

VDCs in Kailali District. Other activities included

enhancing linkage of dairy farmers with

Improved Animal Livestock Shed, Kailali

22

government line agencies, private dairy farms

and financial institutions, organization of milk

marketing workshop, facilitation meeting for

formation of dairy cooperative, and livestock

insurance workshop with the involvement of

private insurance companies, and commercial

banks and other concerned stakeholders.

Model animal shed construction

Eleven model animal sheds have been

constructed on cost sharing basis with the

farmers. Three model sheds each in Chaumala

and Shreepur, two each in Malakheti and

Beladevipur VDCs and one in Geta VDC have

been constructed in the current quarter. Model

shed consisted of a cemented floor, a feeding

trough, a urine pit for the collection of animal

urine. With the construction of model sheds,

farmers are happy and expect that they will have

fewer problems of diseases, less investment in

medicines and increase in milk productivity in the

long run. Additionally they will have opportunity

to use the urine as fertilizer in vegetable crops

and will save the money that would otherwise

have been spent on chemical fertilizer.

Chaff cutter adoption

Project has supported a total of 186 chaff

cutters in 5 working VDCs of Kailali district.

Those farmers obtaining chaff cutter are directly

benefited while the rest among are indirectly

benefited due to the demonstrative effect of

chaff cutter use. Due to the demonstrative

effect of chaff cutter, 133 farmers have brought

chaff cutter on their own investment i.e. without

project support or subsidy. This indicates the

awareness and willingness of farmers about

the usefulness of chaff cutter in the district.

Before project intervention, only about 10%

farmers used to provide chaffed forage to their

animals. After the project, about 40% farmers

within and outside the groups have invested on

the purchase of chaff cutters and their use is in

increasing trends.

Adoption of de-worming

Before the project initiation, farmers of project

VDCs were not aware of the need of de-worming

their animals regularly for the prevention/cure

of internal and external parasites. The project

trained them on the need of de-worming for

improving the general health of animals and

contribution to the increased milk productivity.

After project intervention, farmers within and

outside the groups have been convinced on the

need of de-worming at six monthly intervals.

They have initiated de-worming animals through

buying medicines from the agro-vets.

145, 21%

545, 79%

Beneficiaries by Gender Assessment

23

IMPROVING FOOD SECURITY THROUGH COMMUNITY BASED SEED PRODUCTION INITIATIVES IN SURKHET DISTRICT

The project aimed to enhance food security of the people through community based seed production initiatives in Surkhet district.

Project activities were initiated in 2010/11, from four VDCs and it was extended to 14 VDCs: Kunathari, Lekhgaon, Satakhani, Jarbuta, Lekhparajul, Chhinchu, Hariharpur, Pokharikanda, Taranga, Salkot, Ghatgaon, Chhapre, Bijaura, and Lagam of the district in 2014. The project ended by December 2014 and the major achievement were summarized.

Accomplishments

Improve access of farmers to quality seeds of improved maize varieties Access to quality seeds of improved maize varieties has been improved through dissemination of a large number of IRD sets in 14 VDCs. A total of 2,778 informal Research and Development (IRD) kits on maize were distributed to benefi ciaries over a period of three years.

Community based seed productionProject has facilitated the dissemination of improved maize varieties: Manakamana-3, Deuti, Arun-2, Rampur Composite and Poshilo-1 in the district through seed multiplication and its marketing. Total volume of maize seeds of different varieties produced and transacted

by CBSPs affi liated to the cooperatives in the project VDCs during the project period was 71 metric tons.

Supports for cooperatives /CBSPsFor strengthening the capacity of community based seed production groups (CBSPs) in production, processing and marketing quality seeds of maize, project provided seed production and marketing training to members of CBSP groups, provided material supports like sewing machine, corn-shellers, super-bags, sieves, weighing balances, and metal bins to Sana Kishan Krishi Sahakari Sanstha, Satakhani and Krishi Bahuddeshya Sahakari Sanstha, Kunathari. In addition, a seed storage house and threshing fl oor was constructed on cost sharing approach and handed over to Kunathari Krishi tatha Pashu Sahakari Sanstha. This is an important achievement of the project.

In order to strengthen linkage of CBSPs with seed value chain actors, seed marketing workshops were organized with the involvement of seed producers, cooperatives, private seed entrepreneurs and private seed companies. Beside contract growing of maize seed initiated among CBSP groups affi liated to the cooperatives in the project VDCs for longer term sustainability of the CBSP groups/cooperatives.

Quality Seeds of Improved Maize Variety- Poshilo 1

24

Promotion of improved maize varieties

through community based seed production

programme was implemented in hill districts

of Nepal through HMRP/CIMMYT since 1999.

A number of varieties and maize production

technologies were intervened among farmers in

the hills of Nepal. To assess the adoption of these

varieties and impact of CBSP system, survey study

was conducted by FORWARD Nepal through

CIMMYT funding. The survey was conducted

among 630 HHs of 30 VDCs from 5 HMRP districts

(Surkhet, Dailekh, Palpa, Gulmi and Dhading) and

5 Non-HMRP (Rukum, Arghakhanchi, Tanahun,

Gorkha and Nuwakot) districts with grant supports

from CIMMYT. The methodology consisted of

organization of focus group discussion (FGDs)

in selected VDCs/wards and survey of randomly

selected HHs through questionnaire interviews.

ADOPTION OF IMPROVED MAIZE VARIETIES IN THE HILLS OF NEPAL AND THE IMPACT OF COMMUNITY BASED SEED PRODUCTION

Hill Maize Production, Surkhet

Accomplishments

Data entry training: A three-day training on

data entry in SPSS sheets was organized at

FORWARD head Offi ce during July 2014. Five

data entry operators participated in the training

coordinated by Dr. Subash from CIMMYT.

Participants were trained on general principles

data entry, identifi cation of outliers, data cleaning

through practices sessions.

Following the training, HH data from all 630 HHs

were entered into SPSS formats. Distant contact

to participant HHs and enumerators was made

to confi rm any ambiguity or inconsistency in

data recorded in the fi lled-up questionnaire. The

cleaned data were sent to CIMMYT New Delhi

for further analysis.

25

River Bank Protection to save children and community

CHILD CENTERED CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION (4CA) PROJECT

Climate change is a serious and ongoing threat to

human and development process, which will advance

burdens to poor and vulnerable (IPCC, 2001). Nepal

is also highly affected by climate change (GoN, 2011)

that leads to count as a hotspot of climate change and

disaster vulnerability. Among all age groups, children

are relatively more vulnerable to climate change

than others because of their physical, emotional

and physiological immaturity. To address the issue,

Child Centered Climate Change Adaptation (4CA)

Project, Nepal was initiated by Plan Nepal and

FORWARD Nepal as a climate smart disaster risk

management (CSDRM). It works on three outcomes

i.e. awareness and sensitization on climate change

and related disaster, piloting of mitigation and

adaptation measures of climate change and disaster

risk management and advocacy of best practices of

4CA initiatives. The project has been implemented in

14 VDCs, a municipality, three sub metropolitan cities

of Sunsari and Morang districts of Nepal.

Accomplishments

Mobilization of local resource person: More

than 305 Local Resource Team (LRT) have been

mobilized to raise awareness on climate change,

climate change and children, DRM through peer

education classes, PCVA of project sites, local

level training deliveries and facilitation of local

DRM planning process.

Local curriculum on climate change and

disaster management: Based on curriculum

development guideline of Ministry of Education,

local curriculum on climate change and disaster

management’ for grade 4 and 5 was prepared,

shared and supported to endorse in Prakashpur

Resource Centre, Sunsari covering 26 schools

of three VDCs Prakashpur, Madhuwan and

Bhokra. Prakashpur Resource Centre and

District Education Offi ce, Sunsari took lead

in technical and fi nancial support of the 4CA

Project. To help implement the curriculum, a

fi ve days teacher’s training on ‘climate change

and disaster management’ were accomplished

in coordination with DEO, Sunsari.

Production and dissemination of IEC

materials: A poster was produced and

disseminated in project site in theme of ‘Child

Right to be Safe during Climate Change and

Disaster Risk’. Similarly, 150 disaster knowledge

series were purchased from ECO Nepal and

disseminated in project sites.

Awareness raising campaigns: The 4CA

project has motivated and mobilized children and

26

youth through different types of awareness raising

campaigns such as street drama, disaster game,

child poetry campaign on climate change, door

to door awareness campaign, peer education

on climate change and disaster management,

celebration of national earthquake safety day.

Fourteen different events have been successfully

conducted in FY 2014/15 benefi ting at least 4,360

local people including above 86% children.

Institutionalization of CCA and DRM at

local level: The 4CA project has supported the

formation and reformation of 19 local disaster

management committee, 19 child clubs, more

than 7 child networks, 5 youth clubs, more

than 12 community level disaster management

committee. In addition, LDMC was provided with

different materials for institutional strengthening

and conducting 158 meetings involving

participation of around3200 people.

Local level training on climate smart DRM

(CSDRM): Two days trainings were conducted

on CSDRM at local level to sensitize local

people especially members of LDMC, youth and

children. Seventeen trainings were accomplished

that benefi tted more than 465 local people.

Besides these, the project has also technically

supported at least three children trainings on

climate change and leadership.

Local disaster risk management plan:

LDRMP has been drafted by integrating LDRMP

and LAPA in all sites. The project has supported

to prepare 17 LDRMP and a CDRMP for

Bishnupaduka. LDRMPs were shared among

610 people including children, disable people,

marginalized and deprived community and

women of vulnerable area.

Workshop of district network of CDMC:

One day workshops of district networks of CDMC

were accomplished in both districts that updated

of memberships and reviewed the progress.

Altogether 107 representatives of CDMCs have

participated comprising 63 people in Sunsari and

44 people in Morang.

Other accomplishments include Wall Magazine

Publication, Travelling seminar for joint

monitoring and media sensitization.

School Children Passing through Culvert which was Constructed under 4CA Project

27

FORWARD Nepal implemented the project

entitled “Consulting services to develop

appropriate agricultural training package for

Nirdhan Utthan Bank Limited (NUBL)” from April–

September 2014 with the objectives to:

a) Enhance NUBL capacity in agriculture lending

by providing agriculture related technical

training to NUBL staff.

b) Assist in developing NUBL client’s capacity in

improved agricultural practices to mitigate risk

associated with agricultural lending.

Accomplishments

Preparation of training manual: In order

to achieve the above mentioned objectives a

training manual was developed based on the

fi ndings of training need assessment (TNA) of

NUBL staff and its clients in Parsa, Bara, Ilam,

Jhapa and Morang districts. TNA study identifi ed

CONSULTING SERVICES TO DEVELOP APPROPRIATE AGRICULTURAL TRAINING PACKAGE FOR NIRDHAN UTTHAN BANK LIMITED (NUBL)

Training of NUBL staff on Agro-livestock Enterprise Development, Ilam

vegetable farming, piggery, livestock farming,

leadership development, agriculture marketing,

and post-harvest and agriculture policy as major

subjects to be included in the manual. The manual

was developed from existing training materials

available at FORWARD Nepal, IAAS, AFU, NARC,

DOA and DLSO by a team of experts. The manual

contains suitable illustration or pictures and is

written in simple language which is useful for the

staff and clients/farmers as well as other farmers

and technical and professionals of agriculture and

livestock sector. The manual was given a fi nal

shape after incorporation of feedbacks obtained

during Stakeholder’s Interaction workshop at

Parsa, Illam and Jhapa districts.

NUBL staff training: Based on the manual

developed above, 5-7 days residential training

was provided to a total of 47 Nirdhan Utthan

Bank Limited (NUBL) staff of 10 Branch Offi ces,

two Regional Offi ces in Birgunj and Birtamod.

28

Experts from DADO, DLSO, NARC, AFU, NUBL/

AgriFin and FORWARD were invited as Experts

for the training. Pre and post-test questions were

developed to measure the learning skill, knowledge

and performance of individual trainees and see

the impact of the training. The tests indicated that

the knowledge and skills of the participants were

markedly improved.

NUBL clients training: After the completion of

staff training, training of NUBL clients was organized

on the spot. Selection of clients was done by NUBL

Branch offices and classes run by DLSO, DADO

staff and Staff of FORWARD. A total of seventeen

events of client/farmers trainings of 2-3 days were

conducted in Parsa, Bara, Jhapa, Morang and

Ilam using the training manual in which 473 clients/

farmers of 17 Groups participated in training on

vegetable and livestock farming.

Impact of training: From the Pre and Post-

test of staffs, it was observed that knowledge

of individual staff on technical matter has been

increased by about 95% and they have been

confident and empowered. Similarly, farmer/clients

knowledge on technical matter was enhanced by

about 85%. At the end of the trainings, and during

discussion session, the participants expressed

that the training as well as the topics of training

were very useful to them, because the contents

were designed as per need and demand of

each client/farmers group. The interesting and

important output of the training is that participants

have been familiar with the programme and

services of district line agencies e.g., DADOs and

DLSOs from where they can get various services.

The knowledge on good practices of agriculture

and agriculture policy have been made familiar

with the NUBL staff which would be of value to

them while dealing with loan processing in crops,

vegetable or livestock sector.

29

MULTI STAKEHOLDER FORESTRY PROGRAMME (MSFP) - IMPLEMENTATION OF FOREST-BASED ENTERPRISE PROMOTION PROGRAMME IN BAJURA AND DOTI DISTRICTS

Allo Fiber Extraction, Bajura

Multi Stakeholder Forestry Programme

(MSFP) is a joint programme of

Government of Nepal in collaboration

with the Governments of Finland, Switzerland

and United Kingdom, which aims to maximize

the contribution of Nepal’s Forestry Sector to

inclusive economic growth, poverty reduction

and tackling climate change. Forum for Rural

Welfare and Agricultural Reform for Development

(FORWARD Nepal) is implementing a project

entitled “Forest-Based Enterprise Promotion

Programme in Bajura and Doti districts” in

collaboration with Malika Integrated Social

Service (MISS) in Bajura and Rural Development

Centre (RDC) in Doti.

The objectives of the project include (i) enhancing

the living standard of people through their

engagement in the forest-based enterprises for

improved food and nutrition security, income

generation and employment, (ii) safeguarding

environment by adopting sustainable agricultural

practices and sustainable use of forest resources

for both timber and non-timber based enterprises.

One of the major outcomes of the project

includes the creation of 5,000 jobs for poor and

disadvantaged groups consisting of 50% women

and 70% DAGs. The project period is 20 months -

November 14, 2014 to July 15, 2016.

Intervention strategies/approaches

FORWARD Nepal is working jointly with the

local organizations, cooperatives, communities,

private sectors and wide range of stakeholders.

Bottom up planning in consultation with

30

stakeholders, and promotion of community

ownership and their active participation in the

programme are considered from the beginning.

The potential sub-sectors were selected

through sub sector analysis (SSA), and VDCs

were selected via specific criteria developed in

coordination with the stakeholders. The activity

implementation plan (AIP) for the project

period has been developed jointly by all the

implementing partners with support from the

MSFP-SSU Clusters and district level major

stakeholders, as well as considering suggestions

from the communities. The project is targeting

the economically poor, disadvantaged and

socially excluded groups. It devises a value chain

approach to promote the selected sub-sectors

and establish new forest-based enterprises

with technology transfer through trainings and

market development. Furthermore, the project

promotes existing forest-based enterprises

and creates employment opportunities

to DAGs through engagement in forest-

based enterprises. The project supports 37

enterprises including establishment of 26 new

enterprises and strengthening 11 enterprises

in the programme districts. Awareness and

sensitization programmes, skill development

trainings in various stages of value addition,

machinery support to enhance the quality of

product, and market development support to

ensure the market were intervention strategies

to strengthen forest-based enterprise in Bajura

and Doti districts. The MSFP has been promoting

8 sub sectors namely Sisnu powder, Duna,

Tapari, Chiuri, Rittha, Amala, Beekeeping,

Tejpat and Resin collection in 16 VDCs of Doti

district. Similarly, Allo, MAPs, Lokta, Olive,

Sisnu powder, Resin collection, Bamboo and

Nigalo, Timur, Shitake mushroom, Beekeeping

and Dhatelo are working sub sectors in 18

VDCs and one municipality of Bajura district.

Accomplishments

The major achievements of the MSFP thematic

district Bajura and Doti include: participation in

the start-up orientation to MSFP-IAs and literature

review followed by a field study to assess forest-

based enterprises in the programme districts,

conduction of district level inception meetings,

selection of forest-based sub sectors through sub

sector analysis (SSA), selection of the programme

VDCs, formulation of intervention strategies

in coordination with major stakeholders, and

preparation of the detailed activity implementation

plan (AIP). The formation of district level inclusive

multi stakeholder mechanism is the important

output. The selection of the beneficiaries and field

stock-taking of the forest user groups, enterprises

and entrepreneurs, and traders has also been

completed. Furthermore, formulation of strategies

for enterprise promotion and private sector

involvement, partnership with cooperatives,

linkage among market actors through

participatory market chain analysis (PMCA)

workshops, business plan development training

to entrepreneurs and project staffs, preparation

Dalo making from Nigalo, Bajura

31

of business plan of some enterprises, awareness

and sensitization programmes on selected sub-

sectors, and skill development trainings on various

topics were conducted. Altogether, 20 business

plans have been prepared in Bajura and Doti

districts. Regarding job creation, 3 ICS masters

are developed (95 ICSs have already been made

in Doti), 165 people increased their capacity on

resin collection and increased income from it, 52

persons received jobs in resin collection. Likewise,

Mr. Krishna Rawat (21), son of Mr. Maji Rawat

is a member of poor family of eight members in

Chawala, Gairagaun-7, Doti. He had limited his

study at grade 10, because of poor economic

condition of house. His family has been engaging

in traditional agriculture, but could not earn

satisfactory income.

When he participated in a five-day (May 26-30,

2015) ICS promoter training organized jointly

by RDC, FORWARD Nepal, DAYS and RDSC

with support from MSFP, AEPC and Gairagaun

VDC, he decided to adopt a new profession as

ICS Master- ICS installation. He installed 80 ICSs

within 45 days in Gairagaun VDC. He charged

Mr. Krishna Rawat, Improving Cooking Stoves

NRs. 200 for each ICS and earned NRs. 16,000

within given period. He not only engaged in ICS

installation, however, he disseminated knowledge

and skills to Mr. Dev Bahadur Dhami and Mr.

Jagat Chayada. Mr. Dhami installed 70 ICS,

and earned NRs. 14,000, whereas Mr. Chayeda

installed 90 ICSs and earned NRs. 19,000 within

47 days. Mr. Rawat states “not only me but also

my mate, improved our household income by ICS

installation”.In Rawat’s view, “ICS construction

provides new job opportunities to youths.

ICSs keep less smoke in the house and save

cooking time. The use of ICSs reduces firewood

consumption and protects the environment”. He is

thankful to organizers and supporters.

existing 123 LFUGs received support of social

mobilization, and 19 CFUGs were backstopped

(trainings) on good governance, women

empowerment and leadership development,

18 LFUGs got support (training and stationery)

on financial management. In addition, 5,047

seedlings of different forest species were planted

in four forests (>4.3 ha of the land), as well as

780 existing trees were nourished.

32

The project aims to contribute to sustainable

development through promotion of green

economy. The project started from

January 01, 2015, which is fi nancially supported

by Welthungerhilfe (WHH), Germany. Forum

for Rural Welfare and Agricultural Reform for

Development (FORWARD Nepal) has been

implementing the project in two hilly VDCs of

Chitwan district as Shaktikhor and Siddhi. The

project strengthens the technical capability

of the SIFS farmers, as well as improvement

of their market access. More specifi cally, the

project follow-up and monitor SIFS households

after termination of the SIFS project. The project

covers 1,513 households (70 farmer groups),

three market centers, and three cooperatives.

This project has ethnic and gender diversity of

benefi ciaries. The Green Economy project seeks

PROMOTING GREEN ECONOMY IN HILL AREAS OF NEPAL AND BANGLADESH Entrepreneurship Development

Training, Shaktikhor

to make inclusive participation of the farmers

in promoting green economy for sustainable

development.

Follow-up trainings and advisory

The Green Economy project is knowledge-

centered approach to sustainable development

through knowledge sharing, advisory, and training

services to targeted communities that are among

the poorest and marginalized. The project rendered

the follow-up support to ensure sustainability of the

SIFS project activities. To make the farmer groups

self-suffi cient and function effectively, different

technical trainings have been organized. The

project delivered a total of 44 trainings (3 VDC level

33

and 41 group level), which reached 600 women,

288 Chepangs, 307 Janajati, 45 Dalit, and 76 BC.

Beneficiaries are strongly encouraged to have diet

diversity farm, organic production, and develop

entrepreneurship skill. As an outcome, many of

them have started maintaining diet diversity farm

and record of farm planning and farm activities.

Exploration

The project conducted weakness and

opportunity analysis of a market center named

“Shree Ichhakamana Agriculture Produce and

Fruit Collection Center” and the Utthan Dairy

Cooperative to explore their problems and

opportunities, which provides direction and

serves as a basis for the future plans. The

project also explored their future vision, target,

and performance; how effectively the support

has been utilized.

Total beneficiaries by caste/ethnicity Total beneficiaries by Gender

Capacity building

The project capacitated the staffs and beneficiary

farmers by giving them access to the exposure

visits and programs organized by line agencies on

livelihood improvement and capacity building of

poor farmers, which has also fostered the strong

linkages with line agencies.

As an earthquake recovery activity, the project

staffs were involved in vegetable seed mini-kits

distribution to the affected households in Siddhi,

Shaktikhor, and Kaule VDCs of Chitwan district

under the financial support of WHH, and Staff

Contribution and FORWARD’s internal fund.

49.9% Chepang

31.8% Janajati

5.4% Dalit

12.9% BC

66.2% Women

33.8% Men

34

TRANSFER, EVALUATION AND DISSEMINATION OF AN INNOVATIVE FERTILIZER MANAGEMENT TOOL (NUTRIENT EXPERT) FOR INCREASING CROP YIELDS AND FARMER’S INCOME IN EASTERN NEPAL

Nutrient Expert Trial on Wheat, Jhapa

FORWARD Nepal has implemented

the project Transfer, Evaluation and

Dissemination of an Innovative Fertilizer

Management Tool (Nutrient Expert) for increasing

crop yields and farmers income in Eastern

Nepal since October 2014 in two villages each

in Jhapa (Dhukurpani, Gauradaha) and Morang

(Babiyabirta, Itahara).The project is run through

grant funds from International Plant Nutrition

Institute (IPNI) South Asia with partial support from

NRNA Australia. Initial activities were selecting

villages and farmers for participation in the project,

organizing individual and group meetings with

farmers and stakeholders, organizing meetings

and workshops for farmers and stakeholders

to inform them and obtain their feedback and

suggestions about the project activities, and

providing training on improved crop and nutrient

management and Nutrient Expert (NE) software.

The software is developed by IPNI in collaboration

with its national and international partners in South

and Southeast Asia. The project has established

adaptive research cum demonstration trials on rice,

maize and wheat crops in 300 farmer’s fi elds.

Description of adaptive trials

Each trial consisted of three plots/treatments:

(i) farmer’s fertilizer practice (ii) government

fertilizer recommendation and (iii) NE+ based

recommendation. The fi rst treatment is totally

managed by farmers with their own practice

while the second is as per government fertilizer

recommendation in terms of amount and timing

of fertilizer application. The third treatment is

project’s intervention and is aimed at optimizing

fertilizer use, increasing yield, and ultimately

increasing profi ts and income from maize

and wheat production. The second and third

treatments were jointly managed by the project

staff and participating farmers.

35

Nutrient expert trainingThe Nutrient Expert training was organized on 7th Oct 2014. Altogether 24 participants attended the training on Nutrient Expert. Dr Kaushik Majumdar, IPNI Director gave an overall view of NE+ tools, its development, experiences of West Bengal and Bihar on NE+, and the methods of using the tools for estimating fertilizer nutrients in maize, rice and wheat. The training as also organized on 22 May 2015 for extension personnel, IAAS students, and FORWARD staff.

WorkshopsProject inception workshop was held on 7th Oct 2014 at Chandragadhi, Jhapa with the involvement of concerned stakeholders DDC, DADO, DLSO, IPNI Scientists, NRNA Australia scientist, FORWARD project staff, Students, Campus Chief of Lamjung Campus, Farmer representatives, CBOs, NGOs, and representative of major political parties and media personnel. The workshop aimed to inform the stakeholders on the importance of NE+Tools in estimating nutrient requirements from rice, maize and wheat and its benefits to farmers, and also to seek their support in implementation of project activities in Jhapa and Morang districts as a pilot phase. Details of NE tools and the working modality of project activities by FORWARD Nepal in collaboration with DADOs of the two districts were presented in details by Dr. Majumdar and Dr. Jagadish Timsina, Adviser to NRNA Australia and Member of NRNA ICC/NCC SKI Committee.

Farmer’s field dayFFDs were organized in each project site at crop maturity to observe plant nutrient response of different treatments by mainly, non-participant’s farmers and to collect various comments, inquiries from the participants.

Project monitoringJoint monitoring visits of district level stakeholders

was organized at vegetative and maturity stage of

wheat crop. They were highly impressed on the

visual difference of treatments on crop growth of

wheat. Dr. Timsina visited project sites in Jhapa

and Morang on 30th January 2015.

Dr. Majumdar, monitored field trials of wheat and

maize along with FORWARD Program Director

in March 2015. Overall the status of trials was

satisfactory and growth of crops receiving NE

recommended fertilizer was better as compared

to government recommended or farmers fertilizer

practices.

Progress review workshopProgress review workshop was organized on

22 May 2015 at Morang. The results of wheat

experiment were presented and discussed and

plans for rice demonstration/trials prepared in

the workshop attended by DADOs of Jhapa and

Morang, Regional Director of Agriculture, Director

of Regional Agriculture Research Station, Tarhara,

farmer’s representatives and Dr. Majumdar from

IPNI and Dr. Timsina from NRNA Australia. Results

of 92 farmer participatory trials conducted across

4 villages of Jhapa and Morang district showed

that mean wheat grain yields were higher in plots

receiving fertilizer as per NE+ recommendation than

from plots receiving government recommendation

or farmer’s fertilizer practice. Average additional

wheat yield for NE+ plots was 481kg/ha over

government recommended and 1154 kg/ha over

farmers practice. Economic analysis indicated

that for every additional rupee spent on additional

fertilizer application as per NE+ recommendation,

farmers will get a return of NRs 3.87 (B/C 3.87:1)

over government recommended and 3.28 over

Farmers’s practice.

36

COPILA is a climate awareness and

community adaptation project funded by

HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation Nepal.

The project mainly aims to increase the resilience

of the men and women in the working area

against the negative impacts of climate change.

The project has also been involving students from

government schools to undertake active roles in

raising climate awareness through the extension

of existing lessons into action research and micro-

projects. Together with teachers student learn

climate change adaptation through civic science,

classroom teaching, outdoor research activities and

the development and implementation of local level

adaptation plans. They are then expected to spread

their learning to farmers, household members,

neighbors, user groups and communities. The

project focuses on the capacity to understand climate

change by the farmers and therewith increase their

resilience through sensitization and orientation.

It establishes partnership with local farmers and

institutions, which design and implement the

adaptation plan to increase their human adaptive

capacity and livelihood capitals.

COMMUNITY PRACTICE IN SCHOOLS FOR LEARNING CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION (COPILA)

Training on Climate Change and Curricular Development to the Teachers

Accomplishments

• Teacher’s training on climate change and

curricular development.

• Orientation on climate change to all

teachers of implementing schools.

• Support planned extracurricular activities by

schools.

• Orientation on climate change (RBF farmer's

groups).

• Regular meeting with farmers.

• Exchange of knowledge between farmers

and schools.

• Student workshop on CC, Student research

work, and Programme review with the

teachers.

The project activities were implemented in

Laxmi Higher Secondary School of Kachanapur,

Saraswoti H. S. School of Baijapur, Bhagwati High

School of Tithiriya and RbF farmers’ groups.

37

Small Variety of Lentil, Banke

The project aims to enhance food security

of smallholder farmers through increase

in crop productivity by scaling up the

climate smart agriculture development practices

in the existing rice-lentil system of Dang, Banke,

Bardiya and Kailali districts. The project was

initiated in May 2015 with the fi nancial support

of USAID/WI/KISAN and is being implemented

among 2,000 benefi ciaries HHs in Holiya,

Bethani, Bankatti, Purainaand Puraini of Banke

district; Sanoshri, Taratal, Sorahawa, Dhodari

and Mohmmadpur of Bardiya; Sishaniya,

Chaulahi, Bela, Sonpur and Satbariya of Dang;

and Beladevipur, Shripur, Malakheti, Geta and

Urma of Kailali district.

Major achievements

• A total of 2,000 farmers organized into

100 groups have been selected as target

benefi ciaries in the four project district.

• Group level trainings on rice cultivation,

importance of growing drought &

ENHANCING FOOD SECURITY THROUGH SCALING UP OF CLIMATE SMART PRACTICES IN RICE-LENTIL SYSTEM IN DANG, BANKE, BARDIYA AND KAILALI DISTRICT

submergence tolerant varieties, characteristics

of these varieties, management of fertilizer,

insect/pest and disease in rice were

conducted among 100 groups in the four

project districts.

• For wider dissemination of improved rice

varieties, IRD sets were distributed among

1,000 farmers of the four project districts.

• Eighty demonstration plots of climate

resilient rice varieties Sukhadhan-3 and

Swarnasub-1, Samba sub -1 have been

established in the four districts.

• Seed multiplication of two rice varieties

Sukhadhan-3 and Swarnasub-1 has been

conducted in 10 Ha area in the four project

districts.

• Four project inception coordination meeting

has been completed in the project districts.

• Four fi eld technicians were provided one

day training on rice cultivation, climate

resilient rice varieties and technologies.

• One, seed producer group training including

farmers of four project districts has been

completed in the month of July.

38

The project focus is on livelihood

improvement of Chepang households

through beekeeping enterprise. FORWARD

Nepal has been implementing the project in Siddhi

VDC of Chitwan district since February 01, 2015

with fi nancial support from Welthungerhilfe (WHH),

Germany. Siddhi VDC of Chitwan has a major

proportion of Chepang households - more than

80% of its total population. Only few Chepang

households are self-suffi cient. The project is

designed to help the poor Chepangs of Siddhi

VDC through capacitating them for beekeeping

enterprise production, processing and marketing of

honey. Genetic diversity, availability of bee forage,

and indigenous knowledge of the communities

makes Siddhi VDC suitable for beekeeping. The

project is centered on the four villages of Siddhi

VDC and planned to introduce 36 poor Chepangs

as a beekeeping entrepreneur. The project sites

namely Majhbang-6, Hoiling-6, Gamidung-4,

and Cheurang-5 are selected through the fi eld

feasibility study based on the suitability and

potentiality of the location for beekeeping. Similarly,

the households who have expressed intense

commitment towards bee keeping have been

selected as the benefi ciaries of the project (36

poor Chepangs). Almost all targeted farmers have

one or two colonies of cerana species of bee in

the traditional hives -wooden logs and walls of the

house, so farmers already have some experience

of beekeeping.

The beekeeping project offers different kinds of

trainings and exposure visits to capacitate farmers

on production and processing techniques, and

marketing strategies of hive products as honey,

Propolis, and wax. An orientation program has

already been organized covering topics of signifi cant

interest to the participants. The orientation

programme enabled the participating farmers to

increase and improve their existing beekeeping

skills, as well as get them acquainted with the

modern beekeeping with Apis mellifera species.

The project also carried out a baseline study with

a group of benefi ciaries to identify the details about

the beekeeping scenario of the project sites and the

existing situation of the participating farmers.

Handling of Modern Bee Hive, Siddhi, Chitwan

ENHANCING LIVELIHOOD OF CHEPANGS IN SIDDHI VDC OF CHITWAN THROUGH BEEKEEPING DEVELOPMENT

39

Enhancing the Livelihood of Smallholder Farmers of the Terai (ELIVES) is a joint project of ADRA Nepal, iDE Nepal and

FORWARD Nepal. The project was initiated from 15th April 2015, and it aims to enable 30,000 poor households (HHs) in four Central Terai districts Bara, Rautahat, Sarlahi and Mahottari to substantially increase incomes, build capacity and empower women and disadvantaged caste/ethnic groups through development of pro-poor value chains in the goat and vegetable subsectors. It targets to reach up to 12,000 direct beneficiary HHs of 32 VDCs in 4 central Terai districts where 9,000 HHs will be supported with livestock (goat) support and remaining 3,000 HHs will be supported for fresh vegetables and lentil. Additionally, 18,000 HHs in the project VDCs will be benefitted through value chain interventions in goat and vegetable subsectors.

In this project, ADRA Nepal as the lead partner provides technical assistance and coordination for community capacity building, empowerment of women and socially excluded groups, saving and credit cooperatives, and facilitating PPP, where as iDE Nepal provides technical assistance and market development support for the goat and vegetables subsectors. FORWARD Nepal provides field level implementation and technical assistance and manages district based NGO partners (one per district) for project implementation. District partner NGOs facilitate recruitment, communication, coordination, problem solving and targeting at local level. Prime role of district partners lies in mobilizing the community and target beneficiaries for activity implementation.

Major activities completed include Introductory visit by FORWARD Nepal, ADRA Nepal and iDE Nepal team to project districts, agreement between FORWARD and ADRA Nepal, between FORWARD Nepal and iDE Nepal, project start

up workshop, planning and revision of project documents, criteria finalization for selection of district partner NGOs, recruitment of Project staff, and Call for expression of Interest (EOI) from district NGOs.

Preliminary meeting with the project stakeholders

A visit to DADO, DLSO and DDC of the project districts was made during 3-5 June 2015, and preliminary introduction to project was given to them. FORWARD Nepal, iDE Nepal and ADRA Nepal personnel interacted with the stakeholders. In this meeting, discussions were held on the selection of potential VDCs for implementation of project activities taking into consideration of the regular activities run by DLSO and DADO of the four project districts. The meeting was successful in building rapport with the stakeholders, who told that they were very much interested to see the project activities implemented in their districts. They expressed that they would be happy to provide necessary help in selection of VDCs, district partners and in implementation of project activities as per project need.

Startup workshopDetails of activities to be conducted, revision of log-frame in the context of present scenario and possibilities of meeting the proposed targets, methodologies be followed in selection of District partners (NGOs), selection of VDCs, and recruitment of staffs were discussed in details in the startup workshop held at Kathmandu during 8-12 June 2014.

ENHANCING LIVELIHOOD OF SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN CENTRAL TERAI DISTRICT OF NEPAL (ELIVES)

40

An earthquake on 25 April 2015 and its

after shocks have huge impact on rural

livelihoods due to loss of house, reserved

seeds, livestock, and other farm assets; so the

farm families have been greatly suffered.

As a recovery activity for farm households,

FORWARD Nepal proposed an agricultural

intervention –distribution of vegetable seeds to

the earthquake affected households in Chitwan

district. At fi rst, an assessment of the earthquake

impact in the household in three hilly VDCs (Kaule,

Siddhi and Shaktikhor) was conducted. Suitable

vegetables and farmers adopted varieties for the

rainy season were also identifi ed during the fi eld

assessment. FORWARD Nepal with its internal

fund and its staff contribution along with its

member residing abroad distributed vegetable

seed mini-kits to 350 highly affected households.

Later on, since June 2015, FORWARD Nepal

has been implementing a project for distribution

of vegetable seeds as well as technical support to

the earthquake affected households - ethnic and

minority groups in Kaule, Siddhi, and Shaktikhor

VDCs. The project aims to contribute to food

VEGETABLE SEED DISTRIBUTION FOR EARTHQUAKE AFFECTED HOUSEHOLDS IN CHITWAN DISTRICT

Vegetable Seed Distribution, Kaule, and Shaktikhor, Chitwan

and nutrition security of the earthquake affected

households. The project expects to maintain

the regular farming activities and agricultural

production in the earthquake affected areas.

Welthungerhilfe (WHH), Germany is fi nancially

supporting the project.

The distribution of vegetable seed mini-kits to

all households has been completed by June

2015. In total, 1,943 households in three VDCs

(1,011 HHs in Kaule, 724 HHs in Siddhi, and

208 HHs in Shaktikhor) received the vegetable

seeds. Each household received seed mini-

kit packet weighing 520 grams along with the

leafl et detailing the cultivation methods. Seeds

of vegetables namely okra, bitter gourd, brinjal,

four-season bean, and yard long bean were

included in the seed mini-kit. Farmers have

planted the vegetable seeds. Project staffs

have been providing follow-up and technical

support to farmers. The project has become an

encouragement for the earthquake affected farm

families to return to the farming activities, which

helped to resume their livelihoods and regain

self-suffi ciency in the future.

41

Agro/Livestock Business Promotion Training Programme (ABPTP), implemented by FORWARD Nepal, is one of the component

sub-project of ‘Private Sector Participation in Labor Management in Nepal’ implemented by Ministry of Labor and Employment (MoLE), Ministry of Agriculture Development (MoAD) and International Organization for Migration (IOM). The objective of the project is to contribute to the GON’s initiatives to generate employment opportunities for returnee migrants and Remittance Receiving Households (RRHHs) through engagement of private sector. In the district level, the project is implemented in coordination with DADO, DLSO, partner NGOs and financial institutions – like development banks, cooperatives, remittance service providers etc.

Accomplishments

The project was implemented in Ratnanagar municipality and Sukranagar and Jagatpur VDCs of Chitwan district aiming to facilitate the set-up of at least 125 agro/livestock enterprises by the end of the project. The information handbooks on mushroom farming, banana farming, dairy, piggery, fishery and goat keeping have been published jointly with IOM.

Skill trainings were conducted on top three areas of choices made by the participants of ED (entrepreneurship development) training. The training topics were goat rearing, pig rearing and dairy farming. A total of 182 participants, out of 244 beneficiaries, chose to further participate in the training events. Among these 100 opted for goat training, 38 for piggery training and 44 for dairy training. The training included various theoretical

and hands-on practices to the participants. They

AGRO/LIVESTOCK BUSINESS PROMOTION TRAINING PROGRAMME

showed interest on topics such as livestock

feeding and disease management of

different agro/livestock topics.

Four events of interaction meetings were organized in which the training participants interacted with representatives of financial institutions. The participating institutions were Class-A banks, micro-finance institutions and insurance companies. The participating institutions were Civil Bank, Nirdhan Utthan Bank, Global IME Bank, NLG Insurance Company etc.This provided the opportunities for the participants to get information about the banking process and access to credit.

Final sharing meeting was organized on January 09, 2015. In addition, there were a number of informal meetings and interactions among the project stakeholders. Besides these, there were a number of monitoring visits from project implementers and other stakeholders to continuously asses the project progress. The monitoring visits were conducted frequently from MoAD, MoLE, IOM, district line agencies and FORWARD Nepal.

After December 2014, the project was followed by two months of follow-up activities. Thirty piglets and 72 goat-kids were also supported to the farmers in this period as start-up input support for the farmer to set up enterprise. A number of follow-up visits were made to the trainees' households to assess the changes brought about by the training. The farmer's responded that they have brought changes in habits of feeding to animals. This change in practice has reduced the cost of feed by more than a quarter than earlier. They have also better sanitized the living conditions of the animals. The livestock development officers involved in the follow-up visits provided on-spot suggestions to the farmers. The suggestions were about the proper housing system, feeding amount and schedule, breed selection and disease and

pest.

42

SOCIO-ECONOMIC STUDY ON MAIZE PRODUCTION AND EVALUATION AND DISSEMINATION OF NUTRIENT EXPERT+ TOOL BASED ON FARMER TYPOLOGIES IN EASTERN TERAI OF NEPAL

Maize is an important crop of Nepal after

rice and wheat. It is a staple crop in

the hills. The average productivity of

maize in Nepal is about 2353 kg/ha, whereas

the productivity in Jhapa and Morang is 2270

and 3300 kg/ha respectively (ABPSD, 2013).

Despite tremendous yield potential, maize

productivity has remained low. The low average

yield of maize is due to a number of biotic and

abiotic constraints including unavailability of

seeds of high yielding varieties, weeds, and

suboptimal application of fertilizer and manures.

Ineffi cient nutrient management plays a key

role in poor maize yields. Yield of maize varies

across geographical regions and within a region

due to varying growing environment as well

as due also to variable farmer management

practices. Sustainable crop production

intensifi cation will require the development of

suitable nutrient management strategies based

on farm-specifi c conditions, rather than ‘blanket

recommendations or technologies’ for improving

farm productivity across diverse farms. Farm

typologies are a useful tool to assist in resolving

Maize Field, Jhapa

43

and understanding the wide diversity among

farms. The survey was conducted with the

following objectives

Synthesize information to develop household

typologies (groupings) that will be used to

provide a basis for targeting site-specific

nutrient recommendations in maize.

Assess the agronomic and economic impact of

nutrient management options for the different

farm typologies through the use of NE+ decision

support tool.

Accomplishments

In order to categorize the farmers into typologies

based on biophysical resources, accessibility to

market and information system and technology,

HH survey was conducted in maize growing two

Village Development Committee (VDCs) each

in Jhapa and Morang districts. From each VDC,

3 villages were selected for the survey purpose

on the basis of interaction with DADO and VDC

personnel. From each village 15 HHs were

randomly selected and therefore, there were 45

farmers from each VDC and 90 in a district. For

understanding the general information of VDC,

Focus Group Discussions (FGD) were held in

each VDC involving farmers, representatives of

local organizations (Agriculture Service Center)

and VDC Cooperatives. Following the FGDs,

census of maize growing HHs were taken in

each VDC. Information from selected HHs were

collected in the predesigned questionnaires

developed by IPNI to capture bio-physical,

socio-economic, and managerial aspects of

farming households in the area. Information on

key variables like characteristics of the HHsand

family structure, labor availability, main source

of household income, farm land use patterns,

volume of crop produce sold or bought, use of

agricultural inputs, livestock ownership, links to

nearby market, and production orientation were

collected through the questionnaire.

Data from HH survey were entered into Excel sheets

and analyzed at IPNI using appropriate statistical

tools/packages and information was synthesized

to group farmers into different typologies (groups)

based on biophysical resources and social status.

These typologies will form the basis for designing

trials for winter maize 2015.

44

Executive Board Members

S.N. Name Position1. Prof. Dr. Naba Raj Devkota Chairperson2. Mr. Ram Kumar Neupane Vice-Chairperson3. Mr. Ram Prasad Dhungana Secretary 4. Ms. Usha Thapa Joint Secretary5. Ms. Mita Shrestha Treasurer (currently in USA)6. Mr. Krishna Prasad Gupta Member7. Ms. Sunita Shrestha Member8. Mr. Dinesh Babu Thapa Magar Member9. Ms. Sarita Thapa Magar Member/Acting Treasurer10. Ms. Santa Maya Praja Member (Farmers’ representative)11. Ms. Tika Maya Pariyar Member

FORWARD’S Honorary Member

S.N. Name Address Email

1 Prof. Dr. John R. Witcombe Centre for Advanced Research in International Agricultural Development (CARIAD), Bangor University, UK

j.r.witcombe@bangor.ac.ukjrwitcombe@yahoo.com

2. Dr. Dave HarrisPrincipal Scientist (Agro Ecosystems/ Climate Change), ICRISAT- Nairobi ( Regional hub ESA) PO Box 39063, Nairobi, Kenya

daveh548@gmail.com

3. Dr. Krishna Dev JoshiResearch Fellow and South Asia Regional Coordinator, CARIAD, Bangor University UK C/O CIMMYT- South Asia PO Box 5186, Kathmandu, Nepal

kdjoshi@mos.com.np

Founder Members

S.N. Name Current Employer Expertise1. Mr. Netra Pratap Sen FORWARD Nepal Management/Rural Development2. Mr. Gam Bahadur Gurung RRN Soil Science3. Mr. Yam Bahadur Thapa Part Time- FORWARD Natural Resource Management4. Mr. Ramesh Raj Pokharel Currently at USA Plant Science

Collaboration and Linkage

Service Offices (DLSOs), District Forest Offices

(DFOs), District Cooperative Offices, Nepal

Agricultural Research Council (NARC) along

with its Commodity Programmes and Research

Stations, Agriculture and Forestry University

(AFU), Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science

(IAAS), Tribhuvan University, International

Organizations working in Nepal, and universities

in Asia, Europe, and Canada mainly for project

partnerships, research, and educational activities

including internship programme.

FORWARD Nepal emphasizes in collaboration

and partnership with GOs, I/NGOs, research

institutions, academia, private sectors and

public media at national/ international levels and

community based organizations at local level as

appropriate for greater impacts of its programmes,

resource generation/sharing, knowledge, skills,

experience sharing and learning. It has already

established working relations with Department of

Agriculture (DoA) including District Agricultural

Development Offices (DADOs), District Livestock

45

S.N. Name Current Employer Expertise5. Mr. Dinesh Neupane Currently at Denmark Livestock6. Mr. Ram Mani Poudel Himali, ADB Livestock& Dairy Production & Management7. Mr. Krishna Bahadur Bhandari FORWARD Nepal Management

FORWARD Nepal’s Advisory Board

S.N. Name Current Employer Expertise1. ShyamPrakash Chand, PhD Currently in U.K. Natural Resource Management 2. Sharan Kumar K.C., PhD Kathmandu Sustainable Development, labour management & trade union3. Devendra Chapagain, PhD Kathmandu Socio-economic

FORWARD’s Auditor (2014/15)

S.N. Name Engagement Partner Address Contact phone and email

1. CA. Anil Joshi MJ Associates KathmanduP.O.Box 890

Tel: 4416547kuber@wlink.com.np

FORWARD a�liated professionals

S.N. Name Current Employer Expertise1. Dr. Jagadish Timilsina Currently in Australia NRM/Agronomy2. Dr. Narayan Prasad Shrestha Currently in UK Livestock3. Mr. Toya Gautam Freelancer Publication/Media4. Dr. Luni Piya Associate Professor, Hiroshima University, Japan Agri. Economics4. Dr. Nityananda Khanal Currently in Canada Plant Protection5. Mr. Purushottam Prasad Khatiwada Food and Agriculture Organization Natural Resources6. Prof. Dr. Madhav Kumar Shrestha AFU, Rampur Aquaculture7. Dr. Shyam Sundar Shrestha Currently in USA Social Science

FORWARD Staff 2014/15

The total organizational staff of FORWARD Nepal, directly appointed by the organization, is 78which

includes professional, administrative and field based staff. Besides FORWARD Nepal implements

project through district based NGOs and staff required for such projects are hired by them. The list of

key staff is mentioned below:

S.N. Name Position1. Mr. Netra Pratap Sen Executive Director2. Mr. Ram Krishna Neupane Programme Director3. Mr. Yam Bahadur Thapa NRM Specialist (Part time)4. Dr. Luni Piya Planning Director5. Dr. Ujjal Tiwari Programme Coordinator

S.N. Name Position6. Mr. Rishikesh Dhakal Senior Programme O�cer7. Mr. Krishna Bahadur Bhandari Sr. Admin O�cer8. CA. Ram Shankar Thapa Finance O�cer9. Mr. Manoj Majgaiya Account O�cer10. Mr. Pankaj Koirala Project Coordinator

46

S.N. Name Position11. Ms. Manita Ale Field Manager12. Mr. Bed Prasad Bhurtel Project Coordinator13. Dr. Deep Narayan Sapkota Programme O�cer14. Mr. Anup Adhikari M&E O�cer15. Ms. Ashmita Pandey Research O�cer

16. Ms. Manju Pathak Information & Publication O�cer

17. Mr. Khadgaman Samyuhang Project Coordinator18. Mr. Diwakar Dahal Project Coordinator19. Mr. Bramanti Prasad Mahato Field Manager20. Dr. Shekhar Pokhrel Livestock O�cer21. Mr. Pradeep Pokharel Livestock O�cer22. Mr. Uttam Aryal Project O�cer23. Mr. Santosh Kumar Subedi Business Facilitator 24. Mr. Durga Bahadur Basnet Field O�cer25. Dr. Saroj Chaudhary Field O�cer26. Mr. Roshan Paudel Field O�cer27. Ms. Rajani Sapkota Field O�cer28. Mr. Ram Dayal Tharu Asst. Account O�cer29. Mr. Nirmal Chongbang Project O�cer30. Mr. Krishna Bahadur Karki Project O�cer31. Mr. Sashidhar Bhattarai Field O�cer32. Ms. Saharsha Ojha Project Account O�cer33. Mr. Tanka Prasad Acharya Senior Field Technician34. Ms. Sunita Shrestha Senior Accountant35. Ms. Anupama Katuwal Project Accountant36. Ms. Sakskha Timilsina Accountant37. Mr. Rohini Raj Rijal Field Technician38. Mr. Chhallu Prasad Chaudhary Field Technician39. Mr. Shreeram Chaudhary Admin Assistant40. Ms. Rashu Thakali Receptionist41. Mr. Bhim Bahadur Thapa Driver42. Mr. Pramod Sah Field Technician43. Late Amar Bahadur Bhandari Field Technician44. Mr. Bom Bahadur Praja Field Technician45. Ms. Lalita Ale Magar Field Technician

S.N. Name Position46. Mr. Jhapta Bahadur Basnet Field Technician47. Mr. Prasanta Nepal Field Technician48. Ms. Kshemata Gurung Field Technician49. Mr. Umesh Kattel Field Technician50. Ms. Yabati Kumari Chaudhary Field Technician51. Mr. Chhon Bahadur Praja Field Technician52. Mr. Niranjan Kumar Mandal Field Technician53. Ms. Tara Rai Chaudhary Field Technician54. Mr. Damar Prasad Mandal Field Technician55. Ms. Sabita Giri Field Technician56. Mr. Padam Raj Joshi Field Technician57. Ms. Yog Maya Kunwar Field Technician58. Mr. Dornacharya Poudel Social Mobilizer59. Ms. Sabita Biswas Social Mobilizer60. Ms. Debaki Kumari Nepal Social Mobilizer61. Ms. Hira Kumari Dulal Social Mobilizer62. Mr. Ram Balak Sharma Social Mobilizer

63. Mr. Shyam Charan Mochi Mahara Social Mobilizer

64. Ms. Binda Magrati Social Mobilizer65. Mr. Deepak Praja Social Mobilizer66. Mr. Pandab Chepang Social Mobilizer67. Ms. Sabita Praja Social Mobilizer68. Mr. Madan Praja Social Mobilizer

69. Mr. Chandra Bahadur Chepang Social Mobilizer

70. Ms. Sujana Chepang Social Mobilizer71. Ms. Shanti Praja Chepang Social Mobilizer72. Ms. Ritu Adhikari Data Operator73. Ms. Dibya Jyoti Paudel Data Operator74. Ms. Aradhana Dhungana Data Operator75. Mr. Bharat Lal Shrestha O�ce Boy76. Ms. Alina Katuwal O�ce Helper77. Ms. Olisha Katuwal O�ce Helper78. Mr. Dipendra Tharu Security Guard

Sta�s/Professionals on Study Leave

S.N. Name Position Country1 Mr. Santosh Poudel Sr. Programme O�cer Canada 2 Dr. Deep Narayan Sapkota Sr. Programme O�cer Ireland

47

FORWARD Nepal extends heartiest congratulation to Dr. Ujjal Tiwari, Senior Programme Officer at

FORWARD Nepal for successful completion of PhD in Agricultural Economics, Climate Change from Institute of Farm and Agribusiness Management, Justus-Liebig

University, Germany in the year 2014.

FORWARD Nepal extends heartiest congratulation to Dr. Luni Piya, Planning Director at FORWARD Nepal for being appointed as Associate Professor at Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation (IDEC), Hirosima University, Japan on April 1, 2015.

• A Glimpse of Best Practices and Success Cases in the SIFS Project (Siddhi & Shaktikhor

VDCs, Chitwan), FORWARD Nepal (2014)

• Joshi, K.D.,N.P. Khanal, D. Harris, N.N. Khanal, A. Sapkota, K. Khadka, R. Darai, R.K.

Neupane, R. Shrestha, J.R. Witcombe (2014). Regulatory reform of seed systems: benefits

and impacts from a mungbean case study in Nepal. Field Crops Research: 158:15-23.

Doi:10. 1016/j.fcr. 2013.12.011

• Khanal, N.P., Maharjan, K.L., and Neupane, R.K. (2013). Farmers’ behavior in selling rice

seed in the market. A poster presented in the 11th international conference on dry land

development: global climate change and its impacts on food and energy security in the dry

lands, organized by International Dryland Development Commission, 18-23 March, 2013

at Beijing.

• Neupane, R.K., Sharma A., Aryal, D., Shah, R., Gupta, R.L., and Maldonado, K. (2013).

Technology demonstrations and value chain interventions for commercial promotion

of lentil in rice fallows in the Terai of Nepal.Journal of International Development and

Cooperation, Vol.20, No.3, 2013.Hiroshima University, Japan.

Publications

FORWARD Nepal has published more than 130 publications, 76 in English, of which 20 are in

international publications and 54 in Nepali language. Among them publications and journals published

during 2013-2015 are given as below:

48

• Neupane, R.K., A. Sharma, D. Aryal, R. Sah (2013). Household consumption of lentils in

selected terai districts of Nepal: A study on impact of improved technologies. Proceedings

(Abstract) of the second annual nutrition innovation Labs’ scientific symposium on science

and policy for health agriculture, and economic growth. Aug 13-14, 2013. Kathmandu. pp

33.http://www.nutritioninnovationlab.org/opportunities/conferences/.

• Neupane R.K. (2013). Promotion of lentil farming in Nepal: Challenges and Opportunities

(Nepali). Hamro Sampada National Monthly.13:4.ISSSN 2091-2048. PP:27-32.

• Tiwari, U. and S. Bauer (2015). Perceptions and Responses of Farmers to Climate

Change in the Tropical Region of Nepal. International Journal of Climate Change:

Impacts and Responses. Vol. 7, Issue. 3, pp. 29-43.

• Govinda R. Timilsina and U. Tiwari (2015). The Economic Viability of Jatropha Biodiesel

in Nepal. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper (WPS 7295).

• Tiwari, U., Joshi, G.R. and S. Bauer (2015). Crop Yield Responses to Climate Change

in the Tropical Region of Nepal. Nepalese Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 2&3,

pp. 88-107.

• Tiwari, U. (2014). Socio-economic Analysis of the Impact of Climate Change on Nepalese

Agriculture. (Book). Margraf Publishers Vol. 148, Germany.

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49

AUDIT REPORT 2071/72 (2014/15)

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Nepali Handmade Paper making from Lokta, Bajura (MSFP)

Women collecting Dried Handmade Paper (MSFP)

FORWARD Nepal