हामी सबैकाे संसारन्यूज

What Is Bagar-Kheti?

Bagar-Kheti known as “Baluwa Kheti” in Nepal, is gaining reputation in recent decades, especially in Tarai region Nepal. It is as an alternative form of agriculture by landless communities and so forth to enhance their food security. Almost 3.5 million rural people are food insecure and 1.3 million households are reported as landless and land-poor across the country. The farmers usually prepare the field and cultivate vegetables in the ditches in the riverbanks after the post-monsoon season. It has a history of almost 3 decades since its inception by the nomadic farming practices. Many of the farmers living close to the river and landless people suffer from food insecurity due to less land for cultivation, unproductive lands, less production per unit land, frequent flash floods, droughts and other impacts of climate change.Riverbeds in the region are annually flooded during the extreme events, that’s why, hardly used for agriculture and other purposes, generally left barren and uncultivated. Most of these fallow lands near riverbeds are normally unclaimed and not cultivated. But this piece of lands can be adapting the situation through the cultivation of winter seasonal vegetable, stress tolerant and market-oriented crops such as watermelon, bottle gourd, cucumber, summer squash and pumpkin and sweet potato along with the riverbanks, as effective means of coping and adaptation in the region especially by marginalized and landless communities, which helps them to deal with frequent floods and land degradation in the region. Such frequent floods have led to subsequent land degradation by sedimentation of sands, which in due course affect food security and livelihoods of the local farmers in the region. The technology works well on marginal lands, in topographically flat areas with river beds that are dry for one vegetable crop cycle (approximately 4-6 months).Typical successful adopters are landless and land-poor households and farmers with arable land silted over and/or washed away due by floods.Sand must be fine and small-grained and the groundwater table should be less than 1 m. Riverbeds have a higher soil moisture content compared to riverbanks, obviating the need for irrigation, but bear higher risks of total crop loss due to winter or early spring floods.

Seasonally dry riverbeds are an under-utilized resource that can be used for sustainable vegetable production. Riverbed, riverbank, and sandbar farming are seen across South Asia. In the Tarai of Nepal, landless, land-poor, and severely flood-affected farmers lease the riverbeds for cultivation in the post-monsoon dry season (October to May) including nursery bed raising month. Tarbuja (watermelon) was the first and only the crop grown in riverbeds at the beginning, later many crops belonging to cucurbitaceous (gourd groups): pumpkin, bottle gourds, bitter gourds, cucumber and watermelon. Few farmers also grew chillies, beans, tomato and other high value vegetables on the riverbeds. The choice of crop entirely depends on soil conditions and water availability. They are produced for household consumption and market sale.Riverbed farming, as practiced in the Tarai, is based on the formation of farmers’ groups and a leasehold system to rent the riverbeds from the landowner. Since the riverbed plots are grouped together and usually located slightly away from the village, trust amongst farmers is key. The leasehold system is uniquely suited for production systems on dry riverbeds. By their very nature the rivers change course over time, rendering long-term investments in a specific part of the riverbed futile. Since no land ownership is required by practitioners, the leasehold system allows resource-poor farmers to access land suitable for agricultural production at a low initial investment cost. Dry season riverbed vegetable farming was introduced in the Tarai by migrants and landless farmers. Unable to access arable land for agricultural production, these landless farmers cultivated the riverbeds, which run dry after the monsoon season. In the Tarai, each farmer made an initial investment of NPR 1000.00 to cultivate a one kattha (338.5m²) plot, which is large enough to support a family without having to hire outside help. Initial investment costs include the cost of the lease and seeds for one season.

Female farmers find riverbed farming attractive due to the plots’ location close to the village allows them to efficiently multi-task between domestic and production duties.Riverbed farming does not require irrigation, tillage, or energy inputs besides human labor, and generates zero waste that is not recycled on-farm. As smallholders generally use their resources as efficiently as possible, riverbed farmers use minimal amounts of chemical fertilizers and pesticides as they seek to lower production costs. Since the rivers change course every few years, requiring new pits or trenches to be dug, there is minimal danger of acidification of the soil. As crop vegetation and mulching cover the fine sand of the riverbeds, less wind erosion occurs, helping to improve the local micro-climate. By anchoring the sand, the crops’ root systems help structure the riverbed soil and increase its microbial activity.Riverbed farmers report that the production technology is easy to learn. This is bolstered by observation of independent replication of cultivation in riverbeds by neighboring communities, which highlights both the ease of use and the low initial investment costs required.In the Tarai, riverbed farmers enhance their skills of production on marginal, sandy soils. Considering the increasing spread of riverbeds in the Tarai due to the effects of climate change in the Himalayas, learning production skills on these marginal soils increases marginal farmers’ options for sustainably coping with the effects of climate change.

Riverbed farming is a low-environmental-impact, easy-to-learn, cost-effective technology allowing landless households to produce on unused marginal lands. The riverbed farming may increase farmers’ vulnerability to environmental shocks. Riverbed farming could be part of a community-based adaptation strategy to the impacts of climate change. Riverbed farming offers opportunities for linkages to other community-based initiatives for agro-forestry and reforestation of the riverbanks.In the Tarai, and elsewhere too, increasingly erratic hydrological patterns mean the riverbeds will continue to change course and grow broader, forcing more farmers to deal with the effects of climate change. By utilizing an under-exploited resource and enhancing smallholders’ productive skills on marginal soils, riverbed farming increases marginal farmers’ options for sustainably coping with the effects of environmental shocks like floods. In sum, riverbed farming is an environmentally, economically, socially, and technologically sustainable that can contribute to creating rural employment opportunities and enhance marginal farmers’ capacities to sustainably adapt to the effects of climate change. Whereas systems of planting, majority of farmers choose either the pit or the ditch system of planting.

Pit system of Planting:Starting closest to the water’s edge, crops are planted in rows oriented according to the prevailing wind direction. For the pit system, pits of 0.5 m diameter are dug 1 m deep and 1 to 3 meters apart depending on the crops, and planted with multiple seeds, the weakest of which are thinned out.

Ditch system of planting: To use the ditch system, a trench 1 m deep is dug along the row, with 1 to 2 m space between rows for gourd groups. Seeds are planted/spaced 0.5 m to 1 m apart in the ditch.  Seed rate, seed treatment and sowing/transplanting time:A seed rate varies according crops to be grown. In general for cucumber 100 gm, sponge gourd and ridge gourd 300 gm, and bitter gourd and bottle gourd 400 gm in one Katha area. The sowing of seed is generally done for early crop in first and second week of October and sometimelate sowing is done by first week of November. The seeds are sown at a distance of 45-60 cm in the trench at a depth of 3 to 4 cm.

How It Does Food Security?

As the reducing food insecurity continues to be a major public policy challenge in developing countries, the practices of the Bagar-Kheti (riverbed farming) is one of way forward. At least 20% of the households in the Tarai, the plains of southern Nepal, do not own land. In order to make a living, these households commonly rely on share cropping and work in low paid off-farm day labor. The approach described here allows these farmers to make the most of the large areas of fallow land near riverbeds which are normally unclaimed and not cultivated. Vegetable nursery raising is possible even in heavily sand deposited areas by supporting the micro irrigation (Shallow Tube-Well), where other crops are impracticable for cultivation. In some of the area, inter-farming is practiced from which farm families have been extra benefited. Since the lands near riverbeds have alluvial soils and sufficient moisture, they are suitable for seasonal vegetable cultivation during the dry season. In order for these landless and land-poor households to be able to farm these riverbed areas, they need to have access to suitable plots and the necessary agricultural inputs and training.Watermelon, muskmelon, pointed gourd, cucumber, sweet potato, sugarcane, and other creeping vegetables have been growing by reclaiming in heavily sand deposited river bed soils and small water flowing areas in efforts of famers. The result of Bagar vegetable farming is encourageable in Kanchanpur, Sunsari and Kailali district. It has been successfully implemented in about 384 ha (60 ha in Sunsari, 280 ha in Kailali and 44 ha in Kanchanpur) in the river damaged farmlands.  The production is used both for home consumption and the surplus amount sell at local market have supported these people technically and financially to uplift their livelihoods.

By utilizing an under-exploited resource and enhancing farmers’ production skills on marginal soils, leasehold riverbed vegetable farming increases marginal farmers’ options for sustainably coping with the effects of climate change.Even inhabitants of the Tarai are confronting challenges to their food security that are emblematic of problems smallholders around the world face. Production pressure on arable land is increasing due to population growth and increasingly erratic hydrological cycles, caused by climate change.
Bagar-Kheti is not new practices in the world. Even though, it is not so familiar practices in Nepal. It is a source of family day-to-day diet, food security and income for landless communities especially in Tarai. Agriculture is the main source of livelihood in rural Nepal with almost 2/3rd of the population is depended on it for their livelihood. However, almost 1.3 million of people are landless. Bagar Kheti is an alternative source of livelihood for these people for their family nutrition, income and food security, especially in Tarai region of Nepal. Mainly Government of Nepal, national and international agencies including NGOs There are many successful examples of Bagar Kheti from east to west Tarai of Nepal. Based on the successful cases, it needs to be further expanded in other parts of the country as appropriate.

Figure of Bagar-Kheti, Paschim-Kusaha, Sunsari

This form of farming is especially focused for poor people, as a consequence, popular among landless and poor farmers. In order to climate change adaption to deal with the climatic stresses, a leasehold Bagar-Kheti Pranali(system) is found promoted in different forms for the landless people and means. Only in Kailali and Kanchanpur districts, estimated 8,000 hectares of riverbed land is suitable for agricultural cultivation. At present about 6,600 households in 9 districts are practicing Bagar-Khetiin the region (ICIMOD, n.d.).

It was analyzed the Bagar-Kheti in terms of socio-economic and environmental aspects, the crops which are cultivated in the riverbeds as the source of foods for the poor and landless farmers in the region. The national “Local Bagar-Kheti Promotion Policy and its implementation guidelines-2070” was drafted in 2013.

In conclusion, because of frequent and flash floods in the riverbanks, new silt and clay deposits in these lands after flood recedes something enrich soil nutrients for cultivation. These riverbeds can be important areas for alternative agriculture especially poor and landless farmers in the form of Bagar-Kheti. The crops usually grown in these areas, especially cucurbits, can develop good root systems to effectively utilize the soil nutrients and water available in the soil up to 12 inches to 3 feet deep down and stored for months without deterioration in quality. Some crops including cucurbits are specially adapted to this system due to long tap root system. Bagar Kheti is an innovative agricultural farming that maximizes the use of marginal lands and contributes to food security and livelihoods of the poor and marginalized farmers. The cucurbits are important source of medicinal values, vitamins, minerals vegetable oil, protein,for dietary health. That is why cucurbits are cultivated and gaining popularity in the riverbeds by the poor and marginalized farmers in the Tarai region of Nepal. Likewise, the Bagar-Kheti has many advantages including early irrigation, low initial investment, high yield and high net return per unit area among others. Thus, it is economically, environmentally, socially and technologically sustainable in Tarai, which provides the options for the marginalized farming communities for adapting to the climate change impacts. In Tarai Nepal, farm families normally sell the vegetables and products produced in these riverbeds easily in the local markets. Bagar-Kheti significantly contributes to the farmers’ income as it provides household farming as a source of family income and nutrition is presented.

Figure ofMaya Chaudhary with Pumpkin Fruit in the Field Dheketbhuli, Kanchanpur

Bagar-Kheti is an alternative form of livelihood for the landless farm communities in the Tarai which has helped them in food security, family diet, income generation, and recreation. Major crops grown in the Bagar-Kheti are cucurbits as these crops can adapt to the harsh situations as it possesses long tap root that can extract the water as well as nutrients from deeper layers in the soil profile. It is found that the Bagar-Kheti is gaining popularity among the landless and leasehold farmers in recent years as the source of family income and nutrition that ultimately supported in food security. It was found that Bagar Kheti has significantly contributed to the farmers’ income. The cucurbits grown in the riverbeds are good sources of vitamins, minerals, proteins and vegetable oils for the poor and marginalized people. These vegetables are consumed by people for family nutrition as well as sold in the local markets for the family income. As for instance, a woman farmer in far-western Nepal has earned NPR 14125 from 338 square meter of land in a season (within a period of 5-6 months).