Evaluating Contribution of Trees Outside Forests for Income of Rural Livelihoods of Terai Region of Nepal

Trees Outside Forests (TOF) is a reliable source of income for farmers in rural area but study regarding this has not been explored in depth yet. Therefore, this study was objectively conducted to assess the contribution of income from TOF products in annual income of rural household. Dhangadimai Municipality of Siraha district, Nepal was selected as study site. Altogether, 300 household surveys and 20 Focus Group Discussions (FGD) were conducted to find the income sources and their contribution including TOF. The descriptive analysis and unitary method were applied to analyze the collected data. The off-farm income was US$ 1802.57 in total per household. Among it, the highest income was from remittance around US$ 762.34 (42.29%) and the lowest from government job around US$ 166.68 (9.25%). The farm based total annual income per household was US$ 685.94 on which, the highest income was US$ 220.28 (32.11%) from grains and the lowest income was US$ 0.04 from ploughing other farmers’ field. The total value of livestock of average household was US$ 805.99 and out of this, the highest value was of buffalo i.e. US$ 333.01. At the same time, annual income from TOF product was about US$ 853.31 in total per household. Out of this, the highest income was approximately US$ 521.90 (61.16%) from fruits followed by US$ 214.77 (25.17%) from selling of timber. The highest net income per household was US$ 448.66 respectively from selling timber by rich family while US$ 233.78 for medium family. In addition, the net income from selling fruit by rich, medium and poor family was US$ 427.82, 550.71, and 382.43 respectively. Specifically, the total contribution of income only from TOF product was US$ 853.3027 (20.57%). This research will be useful document to develop the economic policy related to TOFs in different agroforestry

Agroforestry Practices in Midhills of Nepal from Gender Perspective

Agroforestry practice is becoming compassionate option for rural communities to fulfil basic needs and generate income for households’ wellbeing. Gender consideration seems worthful to obtain optimum benefits from agroforestry practices in the scarcity of male labour in the locality. This paper has attempted to analyse tendency of gendered participation in agroforestry practice and their existence in gaining benefits. We selected three mid-hills districts of Nepal where people are adopting both traditional (fulfilling subsistence needs) and improved (commercial purpose along with fulfilling subsistence needs) practices. We organized focused group discussions (n = 9), randomly sampled (n = 420) households for interview from each practice (n = 210) to analyse gendered wise participation in farm establishment, management intervention, capacity building and access to information, known as major agroforestry promoting activities. Key informant interview (n = 18), focused group discussions (n = 9), randomly sampled (n = 420) households for interview from each practice (n = 210) was organized to analyse gendered wise participation in farm establishment, management intervention, capacity building and access to information, known as major agroforestry promoting activities. Women participation seemed to be higher in establishment activities than male in traditional practices whereas males were front in applying chemical fertilizer and pesticides and irrigation in improved practices. While changing in practices from traditional to improved, male participation during land tillage found to be significant. Male domination was observed in making decisions regarding species selection in traditional practices whereas women domination was observed in improved practices. Men’s involvement in species selection and plantation was found significant with changing in practices from traditional to improved. Men were ahead in capacity building and skill development activities in traditional practices but women were more active in improved practices. Women participation in training and meetings was found significant between traditional and improved practice. Neighbours were major source of information in traditional whereas extension workers/programmes were major bases to learn new ideas and techniques to improved practitioner. Technologies and learning environment are less friendly to women so they have limited access to adopt new technologies. Exploration of gendered friendly programme and technologies is recommended to promote improved practices and maximize benefits from agroforestry.