Organic Agriculture: A Viable Option for Food Security and Livelihood Sustainability in Nepal

Agriculture is the principal economic activity of Nepal contributing about 35 % to the national GDP and engaging about 66 % of the population. Existing low productivity of agriculture has resulted in food insecure and food deficit nation. Degradation of resources, mainly land, water, agrobiodiversity, and forest, is believed to be the immediate cause for the low productivity. Therefore, agricultural practices those conserve and promote productivity level while regenerating the degraded natural resource are of paramount importance in Nepal. Organic farming has been proven as one of such practices as it promotes and maintains soil and human health, manages and enhances biodiversity, and offers better nutrient cycling and mineralization with favorable microclimatic regimes, and thereby less risk to farmers. Till the recent past, agriculture in Nepal was organic with self-sustained method of production relying on integration of local biodiversity using traditional knowledge and wisdom. However, for the last three decades, use of high yielding exotic crops/varieties and agrochemicals, introduced under the banner of Green Revolution Agriculture (GRA), has become pervasive. Although, GRA served its short-term propose to some extent to increase the production of major food crops, over the time, the indiscriminate use of external non-organic inputs resulted in soil degradation, loss of biodiversity, food poisoning, environmental pollution, and threat to sustainability and food security. This devastating scenario compelled the stakeholders to think of alternative resilient practices as a long-term solution to conserving the resource base and salvaging the environment. Organic agriculture, as advocated and promoted by International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement (IFOAM) based on worldwide research results, can be instrumental to address the current as well as long-term problems of agriculture in Nepal. The practice of organic agriculture is not new for Nepalese farmers because it is a traditional mainstream food production system from the time immemorial. However, as a movement, organic agriculture has emerged as a new intervention in farming in recent years. Development of addictive sense toward chemical-based farming made difficult to convince farmers about immediate and long-term advantage of organic agriculture. Therefore, non-government organizations are involved to advocate, promote, and popularize organic farming with policy support from the government. Growing health and environmental consciousness against chemical farming among consumers has helped the movement advance faster. At present, many conscious farmers, entrepreneurs, and academic and development institutions are focusing their efforts to promote organic farming in the country. Government has also formulated some policies favoring the shift from chemical-based farming to organic farming. This chapter focuses on general features on the past and present of Nepalese agriculture; its resource base; declining productivity and sustainability; and the role of organic farming as a viable option for food security and livelihood sustainability in Nepal.