Revival of chickpea cultivation in Munalbasti village in Nepal

摘要

More than 80 percent population of Nepal is engaged in agriculture. People living in the western part of Nepal began agriculture on the lands cleared by deforestation. Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), mustard (Brassica sp), and grain legumes are our main winter crops. In the beginning when the soil was new, every crop yielded high. Amongst several options, farmers used to give high priority to chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) cultivation. Emphasis was laid on good chickpea crop cultivation, but its cultivation became uneconomical and yields started decreasing. Most of the plants used to die and insects infested the surviving ones and caused total damage. Over a period of time, farmers started thinking of alternative crops and in the last 12-13 years chickpea became a dying crop. It was virtually eliminated from the cropping system. In 1998, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru, Andhra Pradesh, India and the Regional Agriculture Research Station (RARS) of Nepalgunj, Nepal started a joint effort that included on-farm demonstration of improved chickpea cultivation. It included treatment of seed and other advanced agronomical practices for cultivation of chickpea. In 1998, farmers who grew chickpea on an experimental basis were satisfied with the yields obtained. Consequently, in the second year (1999/2000) more and more farmers participated in chickpea cultivation as they got free counseling and seeds of better varieties than the locally available chickpea seeds. Following the improved chickpea production technology, participating farmers harvested 1-1.5 t ha~(-1) of chickpea grains. Several of the participating farmers now have a good amount of seed stored for next year sowings. Some of us have even sold seeds to other farmers and earned a good profit.