This document discusses livelihoods and food security in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region. It notes that the region faces challenges from climate change, socioeconomic changes, and other emerging issues. Mountain livelihoods are complex and diverse, involving a mix of farming, livestock, and off-farm activities. Many communities face food insecurity and lack access to clean water. The document outlines opportunities for improving livelihoods through diversification into high-value crops, horticulture, tourism, and payments for environmental services. It recommends strategies like promoting non-farm jobs, adaptation measures, market access, and mountain-specific policies and technologies.
1. International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development
Kathmandu, Nepal
Food Security and Sustainable
Livelihoods in the Hindu Kush
Himalayan Region
International Workshop on Adaptations and Resilience of
Local Communities in the HKH, Hamburg, Germany
9th-11th October, 2011
Golam Rasul, Theme Leader, Livelihoods
4. Mountain Livelihoods is Complex
& Diverse
Livelihood
Systems
Forest, range &
pasture & watershed
Livestock
Field crops
Off-farm income
Nutrients
Conservation
Protection
Food,
cash
Fuel wood, fodder, timber
Meat, woo
l, milk
cash and
service
Cash, food security
Animal power Nutrient
Fodder, shed
InputsInputs
Interdependencies and inter-linkages of Livelihood systems and water
5. Mountain Livelihoods is Complex
& Diverse
Farm household
Food security
Forest, range & pasture &
watershed
Livestock
Field crops
Crops, horticul
ture, agro-
forestry
Off-farm income
Migration, wage
labor, trade, etc
Nutrients
Conservation
Protection
Food, cas
h
Fuel wood, fodder, timber
Meat, woo
l, milk
cash &
service
Cash income
Animal power Nutrient
Fodder, shed
InputsInputs
Interdependencies and inter-linkages of Livelihood systems and water
6. Background
• Land use: 63% pasture, 21%
forest, 11% protected area only 5%
agricultural land
• Livelihoods- HH Income - 48% from
farm, 28% off-farm, 11%
remittances, 13% from other sources
(FAO, 2011)
• Agriculture largely subsistence- Low
irrigation coverage 4.4 % in
Nepal, 9% in India
• 30 million people depends on
livestock & pasture in the HKH
region
7. Food Security
• 65 % population food insecure
• - Food deficiency- 65 to 80 % households food
deficient - 5 to 6 months
• In Nepal: per-capita food deficit is 37 kg in
mountain, 23 kg in hills and have a surplus of 24
kg in Terai of Nepal (FAO, 2011)
• Poor Access to safe drinking water – e.g., only
37% households in Manipur of India has the
access to clean drinking water.
8. Energy Security
• Rural people largely depends on
firewood for cooking
• 64.8 % households at Himalayan
region of India depends on
firewood – in Uttarkhand it is
86.3%.
• In certain districts in Nepal, over 90
% households use firewood for
cooking
•
10. Poverty incidence
• Pakistan 38 out of 120
districts are considered
poor. Majority of these
districts fall in
Baluchistan & NWFP
& almost all districts in
the FATA (Kaspersma;
2007).
States % Relative (India
average = 100)
Arunachal
Pradesh
33.47 128
Assam 36.09 138
Manipur 28.54 110
Meghalaya 33.87 130
Mizoram 19.47 75
Nagaland 32.67 126
Sikkim 36.56 140
Tripura 34.44 132
Uttaranchal 47.42 182
All India
average
26.1 100
Population below poverty line in selected hill
states in India
11. Purpose
• Essential question is - how to improve
livelihoods, reduce poverty, increase food
security
• Understand
– Emerging issues & challenges- driving factors
– Options and opportunities
– Suggest strategies to improve livelihoods & food
security
13. Key Trends
• Increased integration to national, regional &
global markets
• Agribusiness, contact farming emerging in
HKH region
• Increased outmigration: women are taking
greater role in agriculture and other
economic activities
15. Emerging issues: Socio-economic
• Growing inequality, rural-urban, mountain-lowland
• Agricultural decline-High Energy Price, increased fuel
prices, fertilizers, pesticides
• Outmigration- feminization of agriculture, shortage of
agricultural labor, the abandonment of agricultural land
• Feminization of agriculture, additional work load to
women, children
• Low investment- 80% of remittances goes consumption, only
2% capital formation
• Policies, institutions, technologies insensitive to mountain
contexts
16. Emerging issues: Socio-economic
• HKH region home to ethnic minorities, scheduled
caste, tribal population which are more vulnerable
• Growing environmental refugees, social
unrest, violence > Human Security – free from
want, free from fear
• Social unrest -Poverty, marginality & economic
deprivation have been a major source of
unrest, uprising, even terrorism in hills &
mountains of HKH Region
17. Emerging Issues: Climatic
• Climate change > reduced water availability in dry
season for agriculture, horticulture , livestock raising
• The duration of average rainy days has reduced from
72 days to 58 days & quantity has reduced from 132
cm to 102 cm during 1990 to 2010 in Indian mountain
(Tiwari & Joshi, 2012)
• Expected to decrease agricultural productivity 30%
(Tiwari & Joshi, 2012)
• Declining Productivity, reducing profitability- shifting
cropping patterns
18. Emerging Issues: Climatic
• CC Exacerbated the environmental hazards- land
slides, flooding, …
• Affected the livelihood of vast majority of rural
people living in the region & downstream
• Human Settlements on the bank of glaciated rivers
has become UNSAFE
• Growing risks & uncertainties –
20. Potential & Opportunities: Farm-
based
• Comparative advantages on several products &
services because of mountain Niche & Diversity
• Great potential for development of organic
agriculture, horticulture, forest, pasture, livestock,
hydroelectricity, herbs, medicinal plants, spices,
• Collective action- institutional innovations
21. Trends in Agriculture in HKH Region
• Transition from Subsistence to cash
cropping: Horticulture, NTFPs, medicinal
plants, potato, zinger, agroforestry, veget
ables, spices, nuts,…
Potato has
emerged as
important cash
crop in Bhutan &
Nepal in
mountain farmers
seed potato crop
Potato field in BhutanCardamom in India
22. Revolution in horticulture in the HKH Region
Apple in India & Pakistan
Pineapple in Bangladesh
Grapes, Apricots in Afghanistan 0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Assam Himachal Pradesh Jammu &Kashmir All India
1990-91
2000-01
2005-06
Increase % of area under horticulture in India
Horticulture crops are 3 times
more profitable (Rs.48,164/ha
than the field crops
(Rs.16,619/ha) [Sikkim, India]
Trends in Agriculture in HKH Region
23. Trends in Agriculture in HKH Region
• Diversification of high value cash crops:
mushroom, Matsutake farming and Cordyceps
collection in hills & mountains Bhutan & Nepal
Matsutake
Mushroom Medicinal plants
Beekeeping
24. Non-farm sector
• Tourism is growing - In Nepal, tourism contribute 3.5 %
GDP, generated employment for 0.4 million
• Non-farm based rural employment is emerging slowly
• Climate Service- economic benefits through ecosystem
services particularly carbon sequestration & biodiversity
conservation.
• Better land management- increase carbon sinks in soil
organic matter, above-ground biomass and avoiding
carbon emissions through conservation tillage
25. Strategies
• Diversifying income sources through
off-farm & nonfarm activities
• Promotion of non-farm employment &
increased- value addition to mountain
niche products
• Disaster preparedness- early warning
systems, increased natural
protection, insurance schemes
• Dissemination of locationally suitable
technologies
26. Strategies
• Mountain specific policies, strategies
• Improve access and linkage to markets
• Introduce climate change adaptation
measures
• Improve policy and institutional support
• Institutional mechanism for compensating for
environmental services they generate through
environmental friendly agricultural practices