Center for Environmental and Agricultural Policy Research Extension and Development (CEAPRED), Kathmandu, Nepal.
International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Kathmandu, Nepal.
PLoS One. 2022 Jun 14;17(6):e0269586. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0269586. eCollection 2022.
The impacts of climate change are evident in the agriculture sector globally. These impacts are more severe and pronounced in a mountainous country like Nepal due to the high reliance on agro-economy and subsistence-based livelihoods by smallholder farmers that increase vulnerability and risks. Several ecosystem-based adaptation measures have proved to build the adaptive capacity of both agro-ecosystems and smallholder farmers by offering simple and affordable technologies however, these are yet to be prioritized by policy and programs for scaling. In this paper, we provide science-based evidence to traditionally used practices, such as jholmal (locally prepared bio-fertilizer and pesticides) and straw mulching by comparing their efficacy in terms of yield and reduction in disease pest infestation. The study was conducted in Kavre district of Nepal during 2017 and 2018 using participatory on-farm field trials for jholmal and straw mulching designed separately with Randomized Complete Block Design for selected vegetable crops like bitter gourd and tomato. The application of jholmal showed significant increase in bitter gourd yield both at the foothill and hilltop sites compared to the farmer's business usual practice (in 2017 and 2018, bitter gourd yield increased by 30.5% and 31.1% in foothill, while 26.6% and 28.7% in hilltops respectively). Further, a significant reduction on fruit infestation was observed in jholmal treated plots. Similarly, there was increase in tomato yield when straw mulch was used compared to the non-mulched trials (in 2017 and 2018, tomato yield increased by 16.5% and 20.3% respectively). These findings suggest that traditionally used practices have scientific basis and offer simple, affordable and climate friendly practices to improve the health of agro-ecosystem while supporting smallholder farmers to adapt to adverse impacts of climate change and build socio-ecological resilience. These practices can be also customized depending on the local context for wider adoption and scaling across Nepal and elsewhere as ecosystem-based adaptation measures for smallholder farmers.
气候变化对全球农业部门的影响显而易见。由于小农户高度依赖农业经济和自给生计，因此在尼泊尔这样的多山国家，这些影响更加严重和明显。增加了脆弱性和风险。一些基于生态系统的适应措施已被证明可以通过提供简单且负担得起的技术来增强农业生态系统和小农户的适应能力，但是这些措施尚未得到政策和计划的优先考虑，无法扩大规模。在本文中，我们提供了基于科学的证据，证明了传统的做法，例如 jholmal（本地制备的生物肥料和农药）和秸秆覆盖，通过比较它们在产量和减少病虫害方面的功效。这项研究是在 2017 年至 2018 年期间在尼泊尔卡弗里区进行的，在参与式农场田间试验中，使用随机完全区组设计分别设计了 jholmal 和秸秆覆盖的方法，用于苦瓜和番茄等选定的蔬菜作物。与农民的常规做法相比，jholmal 的应用显著提高了苦瓜在山脚和山顶的产量（2017 年和 2018 年，苦瓜产量分别增加了 30.5％和 31.1％，而在山顶则分别增加了 26.6％和 28.7％）。此外，在使用 jholmal 处理的地块中，观察到果实侵染明显减少。同样，与未覆盖的试验相比，使用秸秆覆盖可以增加番茄的产量（2017 年和 2018 年，番茄产量分别增加了 16.5％和 20.3％）。这些发现表明，传统的做法具有科学依据，可以提供简单，经济实惠且对气候友好的做法，以改善农业生态系统的健康状况，同时支持小农户适应气候变化的不利影响，并建立社会生态弹性。这些做法还可以根据当地情况进行定制，以便在尼泊尔和其他地方更广泛地采用和推广，作为小农户的基于生态系统的适应措施。
