Nepal’s Agriculture in the 21st Century: Traditional to Climate Smart Approaches

Abstract

Nepal is an agrarian country where majority of people rely on farming for their livelihood. Due to small farm sizes and lack of capital, most farmers in high hills and mountains still use traditional approaches and follow subsistence farming. The level of mechanization has increased which is characterised by increasing number of tractors. The use of tractors is mostly limited to Terai region (plain land), whereas low hilly region has adopted two-wheeler tractors. The total GHG emissions of Nepal accounts for 0.09% of the world emissions, however agriculture sector contributes more than half of the nation’s GHG emissions. Most of agricultural plans and policies promote sustainable agricultural development through commercial and market oriented economic growth, however the implementation has been unsatisfactory. Climate smart agriculture (CSA) and sustainable agricultural practices have been identified and implemented to improve agriculture production considering climate change and emissions.