ACIAR Project Annual Report
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Annual report project Enhancing livelihoods and food security from agroforestry and community forestry in Nepal project number FST / 2011 / 076 period of report June 2016 – June 2017 date due 15 July 2017 date submitted 14 July 2017 prepared by Ian Nuberg co-authors/ Krishna Shrestha, Edwin Cedamon, Hemant Ojha, Naya Sharma Paudel, contributors/ collaborators Bishnu Hari Pandit, Swoyambhu Man Amatya, Murari Joshi, Rahul Karki, Shambhu Dangal, Racchya Shah, Deepak Gautam approved by Annual report: Enhancing livelihoods and food security from agroforestry and community forestry in Nepal Contents 1 Progress summary ................................................................................................. 3 2 Achievements against project activities and outputs/milestones ...................... 5 2.1 Update of Outputs Table .................................................................................................................... 5 2.2 Internal review of project progress .................................................................................................. 12 3 Impacts ................................................................................................................. 17 3.1 Scientific impacts and dissemination ............................................................................................... 17 3.2 Capacity impacts ............................................................................................................................. 23 3.3 Economic impacts ........................................................................................................................... 23 3.4 Community impact: Women‘s voice ............................................................................................... 27 3.5 Policy impacts ................................................................................................................................. 28 4 Field work and dissemination ............................................................................ 37 4.1 Second cycle of Agroforestry plantings........................................................................................... 37 4.2 Community forest field dissemination ............................................................................................. 40 5 Training activities ................................................................................................ 42 5.1 Agroforestry training ....................................................................................................................... 42 5.2 Silvicultural training ........................................................................................................................ 44 6 Intellectual property ............................................................................................ 46 7 Variations to future activities ............................................................................. 47 8 Variations to personnel ....................................................................................... 48 9 Problems and opportunities ............................................................................... 50 9.1 Agroforestry problems ..................................................................................................................... 50 9.2 Opportunities ................................................................................................................................... 52 10 Budget ................................................................................................................... 53 11 Appendix 1. Scientific publications 2016/2017 ................................................. 55 11.1 Journal papers .................................................................................................................................. 55 11.2 Conference Papers ........................................................................................................................... 57 11.3 Student Publications and Theses ..................................................................................................... 59 12 Appendix 2. Summary of National Silviculture Workshop ................................ 61 13 Appendix 3. Farmers involved in 2nd cycle of plantation establishment............. 64 12 Appendix 4 List of participants of EnLiFT Silviculture Extension Activities ............................................................................................................... 70 14 Appendix 5. EnLiFT -2 Preliminary Proposal Outline ................................... 77 Page ii Annual report: Enhancing livelihoods and food security from agroforestry and community forestry in Nepal 1 Progress summary Now completing its fourth year, the EnLiFT project has achieved all its scheduled outputs, and in addition sponsored and helped organise a National Silviculture Workshop in collaboration with the Department of Forests, Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation . This 3-day workshop resulted in 31 recommendations that will inform much needed forest policy reforms. In the agroforestry domain, we focussed on training activities of agroforestry system establishment and entrepreneurship. Half of the 300 participating farmers have received this 5-day training so far with backstopping support from Nepal Agroforestry Foundation trainers. An agroforestry entrepreneurship train-the-trainer manual, and associated extension material, is being published. A survey of participating farmers (n=289) found that household income was increased by 37 to 48% mostly due to EnLiFT agroforestry innovations, which can provide up to additional six months of food to the poorest households. Over three years an average of 14% of participating farmers have moved above the poverty line (range 2% to 34% across 6 sites), and 16% have moved to being food secure for more than 12 months (range 4% to 34% across 6 sites). A science-policy interface has become a platform to discuss on various policy issues, mostly related with agroforestry product marketing and to make appropriate recommendations to concern authorities. In the community forest domain, the core activity of the silviculture team for this reporting period was on scaling-up and scaling-out of innovative silviculture practices trialled in demonstration plots. Silviculture boot camps were held in the six research sites covering 35 CFUGs covering 3,604 hectares of community forest managed by 5,080 households. Training in scientific forest management was also given to forest technicians and CFUG representatives in Kavre district. Project partner FECOFUN also delivered 11 training events on women empowerment in forest entrepreneurship, and district level interaction workshops on forest-based enterprise. As a consequence of EnLiFT engagement the harvest volumes per community forest has increased from between 9 to 16-fold where CFUG internal demand are fully met. Net revenue per hectare of forests thinned under the new silvicultural regimes was on average NRs750,632 (AUD 9,877 range $1,702 – 21,712 across 7 sites). Moreover, the project team has continued to engage with CFUGs and government officials to identity issues and opportunities for inclusive planning practice. The project team also identified the weak research-policy link in Nepal‘s forest and agroforestry sectors, and explored innovative methodological approach in the form of EPL (EnLiFT Policy Lab) to link research with policy process. In this period EnLiFT has had 5 publications in scientific journals, 9 conference / seminar presentations, 6 papers published in our online Research Paper Series called Agroforestry and Community Forestry in Nepa1, 1 PhD student publication, and 1 Honours student thesis. Reflecting on our successes so far, we can show that EnLiFT has: contributed to a shift in the government and local mindset from passive to active forest management; improved agroforestry systems to lift households above the poverty line and reduce food insecurity; established the link between food security and forestry, identified issues and opportunities of local level planning practice of CFUGs, explored innovative methodological approach in the form of EPL to link research with policy process, and analysis of the drivers for Page 3 Annual report: Enhancing livelihoods and food security from agroforestry and community forestry in Nepal under-utilised land; revitalised the Chaubas sawmill ( a legacy of the 40-year Nepal Australia Forestry Project) with a private-community partnership; and materially contributed to post-2015 earthquake recovery efforts. We have learnt: that it is possible to achieve results in physical forest management against prevailing preconceptions; interdisciplinary research, though difficult, is more likely to have a real-world impact; interdisciplinary projects don‘t necessarily need a large team; and government partners need an incentive to be involved. The Key Performance Indicator for this period was a report and policy brief on interactions and options for improving links between community forestry planning and local level planning. This work articulated the need for collaboration and reconciliation of local government and community forest regulations in order to facilitate inclusive and integrated planning of forest, livelihoods and food security. With the advent of recent local government election under the new Constitution, there is a good prospect for linking these planning processes and realise positive