The Mountain Institute (Nepal Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Program)

An Overview Of Our Solution

Harvesting and trading medicinal and aromatic plants is an age-old practice in Nepal’s high mountains and provides important supplemental cash income in otherwise subsistence livelihoods. But increasing population pressure, habitat degradation, changing climate, and overharvesting have resulted in a critical challenge to both mountain biodiversity and livelihoods. In response to this challenge, The Mountain Institute has been working since 2001 to promote the cultivation and commercialization of high-value MAPs in fallow and degraded lands and sustainable wild harvesting. We provide technical and financial support to conserve MAPs in wild and improve mountain livelihoods, working in collaboration with local NGOs and coordinating with government, non-government agencies, and the private sector at a national and international level.

Who is this solution impacting?

Community Type

Rural

Organization type

Nonprofit

Ecosystem (select all that apply)

Forests

Grasslands

Population impacted

18,000 households comprising 81,000 individuals

Size of agricultural area

Over 2,500 ha

Production quantity

1,003,202 kilograms of different species of MAPs

People employed

Thousands of mountain farmers producing MAPs and local traders selling the products

Describe your solution

To address the threat to biodiversity posed by unsustainable wild MAPs harvesting, TMI developed a program in 2001to promote their cultivation and commercialization using fallow and degraded land. During a reconnaissance study in 2000, TMI found many wild MAPs species depleted and endangered; this provided an incentive to protect a centuries-old livelihood practice in the high mountains, restore MAPs diversity in the wild, and help increase incomes. We train farmers to grow MAPs in their field terraces—the most common farming technique in mountainous terrain—and on the terrace risers, which are fallow lands exposed to soil loss and erosion using inter-cropping and agroforestry techniques. We also train MAPs farmers on legal provisions and regulations related to MAPs cultivation, non-timber forest product policies, penalties for illegal wild harvesting and trade, sustainable wild harvest of MAPs, and market management of MAPs. Farmer groups are also formed to help monitor the loss of MAPs in wild. A MAPs farmer said that “…before, people had to search forests to harvest and sell wild Chiraito (Swertiya chiraita) to have cash in-hand to celebrate major festivals of Dashain and Tihar; however the cultivation of MAPs on private and barren fields have provided a source of cash income for buying spices, salt, oil, and clothes, and to celebrate festivals”. In a decade (2001-2010), cumulative improvements of 80% in wild MAPs populations were found relative to the baseline situation.

Describe your implementation

Activities Feasibility study to select the project area, followed by a series of community consultations and planning using Appreciative and Participatory Planning Approach. Participants selected based on interest in and commitment to MAPs farming. Basic and Advanced MAPs cultivation training conducted and seeds distributed to participants. MAPs Farmers’ Groups formed, later functioning as informal monitoring groups, to measure the loss of wild MAPs and/or theft, and to facilitate delivery of extension services and follow-up with local NGOs. Technical support and follow-up; training in basic legal provisions and regulations. Cooperatives formed and legally registered to support enterprise development and asset creation, develop infrastructure (Cooperative buildings), build market linkages, and access financing. Local and regional exposure learning visits to share experience farmer-to-farmer. TMI’s community-based approach and farmer-to-farmer method proved particularly effective in ensuring uptake and promoting replication and scaling up of best practices and learning. Also, MAPs profits can be high and highly motivating once income begins to flow. The program also helps farmers secure Product Origin Certificates, which certify that their products have been cultivated on farmland & not harvested from the wild. This allows them to get concessions on sales and transport taxes—another incentive to cultivate rather than collect. Enabling conditions/success factors: Conducive policies for MAPs cultivation & trade, farmer interest, strong international market demand. Farmers’ ownership of the project & their continuous effort to cultivate MAPs and improve their livelihoods support our success. Obstacles: These remote high mountains are an inherent obstacle in terms of access and communication; thus we work in partnership with local NGOs, native to the area. For pest & disease issues we provide additional technical assistance for organic pesticides.

External connections

Learning from the experiences from the early days of establishing the Makalu-Barun National Park and Buffer Zone in the late 1980s, TMI has always appreciated and felt privileged to partner with government, locally based non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and community-based organizations who have roots in the mountains and are well versed in the local cultures, customs, and languages and, most importantly, who will remain after the project is completed. We coordinate closely with central and district-level government stakeholders such as District Forest Office, District Soil Conservation Office under Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation (MoFSC) and District Agricultural Development Office under Ministry of Agriculture. By training and implementing the program through local NGOs, we build both local technical skill and operational capacity. We have begun to build relationships with private-sector entities as well at the national and international level for sustainable market linkages and value addition of the cultivated MAPs. In 2004, TMI played a vital advocacy role during the development of Nepal’s 2004 non-timber forest product policy. TMI also received the “Mountain Development Award 2008” from the MoFSC for our work in the field of biodiversity conservation, livelihoods, and food security in the mountain regions.

What is the environmental or ecological challenge you are targeting with your solution?

Worldwide, between 50,000 and 80,000 flowering plants are used medicinally. Of these, at least 15,000 may face extinction due to overharvesting and habitat loss (Centre for Biological Diversity, 2008). Nepal has about 700 species of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs), of which 250 are endemic. Harvesting and trading these plants is an age-old practice in Nepal’s high mountains. Not only used at home, MAPs are an important source of cash income supplementing subsistence livelihoods of mountain people. But increasing population pressure, habitat degradation, and the impact of climate change on mountain ecosystems have been become critical environmental challenges to this livelihood, and high-value plant species are also being unsustainably harvested for swift monetary gain. As a result, some species are threatened or even heading toward extinction.

Describe the context in which you are operating

TMI’s MAPs Program operates along the mid and high Himalayan belt—rich in biodiversity and forest and water resources, but also fragile, remote, and inaccessible. Half of the people belong to indigenous ethnic and socio-economically marginalized groups and live in areas with fragile physiography, low productivity, and limited access to services and economic opportunities, thereby creating a strong poverty-environment-health and vulnerability nexus. FAO recently reported that vulnerability to food security is improving globally but getting worse in the mountains; this is true for Nepal’s high mountains too. Nepal Food Security Monitoring System highlighted that Rasuwa and Gorkha (2 TMI areas) were highly food insecure in 2016. Mountains have Nepal’s lowest Human Development Index value (0.440) and its highest Human Poverty Index value (38.51) (NHDR, 2014). Per-capita income in Nepal is US $756, and the mountain poverty rate in 2010-11 was 42.2% (NLSS, 2010/11).

How did you impact natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions?

The MAPs program began with the objective of protecting high-value medicinal and aromatic plants in the wild while encouraging the farmers to cultivate them in farmlands. The utilization of fallow and degraded farmlands helps to secure agro biodiversity, store soil carbon, and improve soil and moisture retention. We provided a refresher training on monitoring MAPs populations and diversity to selected forest management groups, such as community forest user groups, conservation leaders, and MAPs monitoring groups using a “citizen-scientist” approach. Permanent biodiversity monitoring plots have been established in our project areas using a belted transect method at an altitude ranging from 2,000m to 4,500m. With reported cumulative improvements of 80% in wild MAPs populations in eastern Nepal over a decade (2001-2010), TMI is attempting to establish a rigorous system of annual MAPs monitoring to gather evidence of the regeneration or loss of wild MAPs in the study plots.

Language(s)

Nepali, Nepal Bhasa, English

Water

n/a

Food Security/Nutrition

Nepal’s mountain areas are particularly deficient in production of cereals and pulses, which contribute 50%–60% of the average calorie intake. Farmers in mountains cultivate staple crops such as millet, barley, wheat, potatoes in field terraces and MAPs in fallow land, community forests and terrace risers which provide them extra cash income to purchase food and vegetables that are not cultivated in their farm such as lentils, spices, salt, and oil, improving their food supply and nutrition.

Economic/Sustainable Development

MAPs farmers’ increased household income has improved their living standard. We have evidence of farmers earning a minimum of US $300 to 35,000 from MAPs. They have been able to replace their old bamboo roofs for metal roofs, and their children have access to better education and health services. Overall, the MAPs program has played a crucial role in sustainable development of remote mountain community by diversifying livelihoods, creating local employment, and generating fair income.

Climate

Warmer temperatures and unpredictable rainfalls have made agriculture riskier. MAPs can be a safety net to assist communities in adverse situations such as crop failure. Cash income from MAPs has enhanced families’ resilience and ability to adapt to climate change and cope with shocks and stresses. MAPs cultivation and conservation can also play a role in improving soil capacity to retain water and sequester carbon.

Sustainability

Initially, grant funding is used to train farmers and provide seeds. Farmers harvest their first crop and receive income 2.5 years after first planting. The first harvests produce enough MAPs seeds to expand cultivation and also sell the surplus seeds. TMI has also supported the formation of MAPs cooperatives where the MAPs farmers can store their products, save their income, receive loans, and sell their products to share equal benefits. Likewise, we have been showcasing the success with the MAPs program and coordinating with government agencies like Department of Plant Resources, Department of Forest, and other respective district line agencies to tap additional support for our NGO partners to sustain the MAPs program.

Return on investment

The cumulative data of 15 years (2001 to 2015) on investment versus income shows that by 2015, TMI trained 9,701 farmers directly, and another 6,004 learned from another farmer, with a total investment of $977,131. Their total cumulative income up to 2015 was $3,282,140: three times more than the investment. This income represents a significant improvement in living standards for poor, disadvantaged, and marginalized mountain communities in terms of quality education, access to health facilities, and ability to start other businesses to further diversify their livelihoods. The program also supports restoration of degraded and fallow land and has demonstrated potential to restore wild MAPs biodiversity.

How could we successfully replicate this solution elsewhere?

We could successfully implement this solution in high mountain areas at altitudes of 1800-4000m with favorable ecology and climate. However, a feasibility study is required to assess a location’s suitability for different MAPs species. A decade-long conservation and livelihood program (2001-2011) focusing on MAPs was implemented and complemented by activities related to forestry, conservation, organizational capacity building and natural resource governance in 3 districts in Eastern Nepal. After this successful model program, TMI replicated this learning in other mountain areas of Central and Eastern Nepal (4 districts) from 2011-15. With a total investment of US $209,636 we trained 2,171 farmers, which resulted in 700 replicating farmers and total annual income of US $246,0074 from MAPs sales, which is 11 times higher than the investment. We require additional resources to strengthen the MAPs farmers in Central Nepal and replication in other mountain areas.

YouTube URL

TMI Medicinal & Aromatic Plants Project, Nepal 2016

Overview