* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
By Badri Paudyal
The members of Mahalaxmi Hariyali Community Forest Development Group in Khudabagar-3, Sonbarsha of Rupandehi district in the western plains of Nepal have only one option left; to grow vegetables in the public land nearby their village. If not, the land would have disappeared in a few years due to the growing trend of encroachment of public land.
The total area of public land of Sonbarsha currently managed by the village inhabitants is 1.5 hectares. Once a degraded piece of land, it is now providing villagers with fresh vegetables and is also saving money that they used to spend in buying vegetables. Some of the villagers have even been able to earn money by selling excess production.
The DFID funded Livelihood and Forestry Programme (LFP) through Community Initiatives Fund at District Forest Coordination Committee (DFCC) provided support to turmeric cultivation, vegetable growing and installation of a shallow water-pump in the area. The Mahalaxmi group is also planning to renovate a pond nearby to make it able to hold water for irrigation.
Priority for vegetable growing is given to landless and poor members of the group. 16 of them have been planting turmeric and other vegetables. The farmers earn from NPR 10,000 to 25,000 (GBP 1 = NPR 130) annually after meeting their own consumption. The villagers have experienced significant changes in their livelihood from vegetable growing.
Similarly, a five hectare patch of public land, including a pond, at Ekala-8, Tigertop-Karbala village of Rupandehi too is being protected and utilised for the benefit of the poor and deprived communities. About five-six years ago this public land served for cattle grazing and cemetery. The pond looked like a mere ditch.
Nowadays a lush green forest is growing around the pond. The pond has been used for raising fish and irrigation. The transformation of this area has been materialised by no other than 63 households of the village who formed the Tigertop-Karbala Community Development Group. The group with the support from LFP and a local NGO – Nepal Community Support Group – renovated the pond, planted trees and allowed 15 landless households to grow vegetables.
According to the Treasurer of the group Sudama Pasi, the group has earned NPR 65,000 with the first harvest of fish. Ever since they have been maintaining the pond and raising the fishes. The excess water of the pond is also being used to irrigate nearby fields, resulting in better yields for the farmers.
A forest watchman from the group Inal Prasad Harijan and his wife Chinki Harijan have made enough money from vegetables grown in the plantation area to build a two-roomed house and establish a vegetable nursery of their own. Inal and Chinki have also been able to send their children to school.
Replicating the vegetable farming in public land in the area, many other farmers have also started to grow vegetables in their private fields.
In order to make public land management and the results achieved from it sustainable, Sanjaya Lamsal, a Chairperson of an NGO from Kapilvastu – Kalika Swabalamban Samajik Kendra – suggests providing proper legal status to public land management groups with independent governance. The District Forest Officer of Rupandehi, Shiva Prasad Wagle, also realised the lack of clear legal status of the public land management groups.
This blog is a contribution to AlertNet's special report Solutions for a Hungry World. Badri Paudyal is a freelance writer based in Kathmandu.
