NPC Vice Chairperson visited Climate Smart Village in Kavre

The Honorable Vice Chairperson (VC) of the National Planning Commission (NPC) of Nepal, Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada, together with Dr. David Molden , Director General of ICIMOD and Dr. Hari Krishna Upadhyaya,  Chairperson of CEAPRED visited Climate Smart Village (CSV) being piloted within the framework of Himalayan Climate Change Adaptation Program (HICAP) by CEAPRED in partnership with ICIMOD in Kavre district of Nepal. Initiated in 2014 across four villages – two in the lower hills and two in the upper hills in Kavre - the pilot was extended to include four more villages in 2015. Altogether, it has 1,089 participating farmers, 82% of those are women farmers. The team visited the sites on 22nd Jan 2016. They were welcomed by the women’s group.

 

The visitors interacted with the CSV participant farmers and the professionals from ICIMOD and CEAPRED involved in implementation of the pilot.  The team observed different climate smart technologies promoted by the project and adopted by the farmers to address the climate change effects. They observed the adoption of water smart technologies (e.g. collection of waste water and its application for irrigating the vegetable crops using drip system, mulching practices etc.), soil nutrient smart technologies (e.g. preparation and application of Jholmal 1,2, and 3 as organic fertilizer and pesticide), crop smart technologies (e.g. tunnel farming, mixed cropping, inter cropping), IT smart practices ( e.g. SMS for technical messages, weather forecasting and market price information) . The farmers shared their experience on how they have been able to reduce the climate induced risks through adoption of climate smart practices. The team also visited one of the meteorology stations installed by the project and managed by a higher secondary school at Hanumansthan of Patlekhet VDC and interacted with the school teachers and the students on how they were using the weather infroamtion.