Section 3 Zoning Section 3: Zoning Table of Contents 1. OBJECTIVE .................................................................................................................................... 1 2. TRIALS AND ERRORS OF ZONING EXERCISE CONDUCTED UNDER SRCAMP ............. 1 3. FIRST ZONING EXERCISE .......................................................................................................... 1 4. THIRD ZONING EXERCISE ........................................................................................................ 9 4.1 Methods Applied for the Third Zoning .................................................................................. 11 4.2 Zoning of Agriculture Lands .................................................................................................. 12 4.3 Zoning for the Identification of Potential Production Pockets ............................................... 23 5. COMMERCIALIZATION POTENTIALS ALONG THE DIFFERENT ROUTES WITHIN THE STUDY AREA ...................................................................................................................................... 35 i The Project for the Master Plan Study on High Value Agriculture Extension and Promotion in Sindhuli Road Corridor in Nepal Data Book 1. Objective Agro-ecological condition of the study area is quite diverse and productive use of agricultural lands requires adoption of strategies compatible with their intricate topography and slope. Selection of high value commodities for promotion of agricultural commercialization too, should be based on considerations of ecological conditions and local situation. Accordingly, zoning of the study area has been carried out to identify areas with high prospects of agricultural commercialization by using various types of information. The main purpose of zoning is to identify different locations in study area suitable for commercialization by producing particular commodity through the utilization of both spatial and attribute data. 2. Trials and Errors of Zoning Exercise Conducted under SRCAMP During the implementation period of SRCAMP, three attempts for zoning have been carried out. “First” one was conducted during October to November 2011, based on land use, agro-ecological conditions, slope, road access, existence of production pockets, future strategic road network development plan, etc. and taking VDCs/municipalities as unit of analysis because it is the lowest political administrative unit of Nepal. “Second” one was conducted during January to February 2012, in response to the request raised by counterparts saying although it is officially published, existing information of DADO/DLSO production pockets with both existing and future potential are unreliable and new data collection should be carried out regarding Wards as unit of analysis not VDCs. “Third” one was conducted during July to September 2013, due to the consideration that despite two sets of zoning exercise conducted, the applicability of these zoning results were judged unsatisfactory for the master plan formulation. Therefore, in the third attempt, a drastic change of the approach was introduced based on the very fundamental condition for the agricultural commercialization, the accessibility. In the following, selected zoning results conducted under SRCAMP are briefly presented. 3. First Zoning Exercise First zoning was carried out basically through utilization of Geographic Information System (GIS) using both spatial and attribute data. Table 1 below presents different data used for zoning exercise along with their data sources. Table 1: Data Used for First Zoning Exercise and their Sources Parameters Year Data Sources A. Spatial data Land use 1996 Department of Survey Slope 1996 Department of Survey Bio-climatic zone 1996 Department of Survey B. Attribute data Administrative boundary (District, VDC, Municipality) 1996 Department of Survey Pocket area information (DADO, DLSO) 2011 DADO, DSLO Records Road Access 2011 Consultative meetings Strategic Road Network (Existing and Planned) 2010 Department of Roads SN3-1 The Project for the Master Plan Study on High Value Agriculture Extension and Promotion in Sindhuli Road Corridor in Nepal Data Book Query based sequential1 analysis was performed to compose maps in GIS domain. However, farming system in Nepal is complex and same unit of land is used for multiple purposes and it is very difficult to identify areas suitable for single particular high value commodity or livestock. Hence, study first identified VDCs endowed with commercialization potential for vegetables and fruits separately (based mainly on slope condition, i.e. <15゜for vegetables and 30>15゜for fruits). Likewise, VDCs having commercialization prospects of livestock were identified (based mainly on vegetation cover, i.e. <20% for swine/poultry, 20<50% for dairy, and >50% for goat). Later on commercialization potential of vegetables, fruits and livestock maps were prepared. Maps 1 to 3 show the commercialization potential of vegetables, fruits and livestock products as the results of above process. Map 1: Commercialization Potential Map of Vegetables by VDCs/Municipalities VDCs endowed with agricultural lands more than 30ha with slope condition <15゜and also listing in DADO’s Pocket Package Strategy (for vegetables) are considered to have high commercialization potential for vegetable production. 1 This includes the analysis of data against specific indicators or questions, e.g. “show area above 30 ha” or “indentify area having both high agriculture commercialization prospects and pocket area of DADO/DLSO.” SN3-2 The Project for the Master Plan Study on High Value Agriculture Extension and Promotion in Sindhuli Road Corridor in Nepal Data Book Map 2: Commercialization Potential Map of Fruits by VDCs/Municipalities VDCs endowed with agricultural lands more than 30ha with slope condition 15<30゜and also listing in DADO’s Pocket Package Strategy (for fruits) are considered to have high commercialization potential for fruits production. Map 3: VDCs/Municipalities Having Commercialization Potentials by Livestock Types Second Zoning Exercise VDCs endowed with vegetation cover; <20% for swine/poultry, 20<50% for dairy, and >50% for goat, and also listing in DLSO’s Pocket Package Strategy (for respective livestocks) are considered to have high commercialization potential for livestock production. SN3-3 The Project for the Master Plan Study on High Value Agriculture Extension and Promotion in Sindhuli Road Corridor in Nepal Data Book Second zoning exercise was carried out in response to the request made by counterparts, i.e. obtain new primary data for existing and future potential production pockets of HVCs because existing data are unreliable and in doing so, data should be based on Wards not VDCs. Table 2 below presents different data used for second zoning along with the data sources. Table 2: Data Used for Second Zoning and their Sources Parameters Year Data Sources A. Spatial Administrative boundary 1996 Department of Survey (Ward District, VDC, Municipality) B. Attribute data Existing status of commercialization 2012 Consultative Workshop Future status of commercialization 2012 Consultative Workshop Availability of support services 2012 Consultative Workshop The second zoning exercise was conducted relying mostly on data collected from consultative meetings with district stakeholders. A series of consultative meetings were carried out with the district stakeholders, especially that of government officials in all four study districts, to understand existing status of agricultural commercialization, future prospects together with availability of support services for agriculture commercialization, solely based on their knowledge and experiences. Participants were first requested to identify wards in each VDCs/municipalities where HVCs are cultivated or livestock commodities are reared commercially. After identification of wards, they were further requested to predict future growth prospects for commercialization if support services such as irrigation, feeds, production inputs, road access, electricity etc. become available in near future. Table 3 presents number of participants by districts. All the front line extension workers, especially JTs/JTAs working at service centers, participated in the meeting. They assigned scores based on their working knowledge and experiences particularly for this zoning purpose. Hence, scores made by them this time were more realistic and reliable as compared to the official existing and future production pockets data used for first zoning exercise in Oct. - Nov. 2011 that were disregarded by some important stakeholders as unreliable. Table 3: Number of Participants to Consultative Workshop by Districts # Office Kavre Dolakha Ramechhap Sindhuli 1 District Agriculture Development 14 6 13 13 office 2 District Livestock Service Office 21 19 14 14 Table.4. presents the proportion of wards with commercial cultivation of HVCs by studied districts. According to the workshops’ participants, vegetable is grown commercially in more than 40.5 percent of wards in study districts, with highest in Kavre (63.9 percent) and lowest in Dolakha (18.0 percent). Likewise, fruits is grown commercially in 33.8 percent of wards while potato in 40.9 percent of wards. Commercial cultivation of all crops is relatively high in Kavre followed by Sindhuli while lowest in Ramechhap. SN3-4 The Project for the Master Plan Study on High Value Agriculture Extension and Promotion in Sindhuli Road Corridor