By Bristi Vaidya, PhD candidate, AgriPath, Kathmandu University‍

Located just an hour’s drive south of Kathmandu’s hustle and bustle, Dakshinkali Municipality offers an escape into its tranquil surroundings. The entrance to the municipality opens the path towards the sacred temple of goddess Kali, a significant religious site that attracts many pilgrims from all over the country. This inflow of visitors also creates a marketplace outside the temple where one can see local farmers selling their fresh farm produce. 

Towering trees border the narrow roads which are often under construction in the area, creating a striking visual contrast with the panoramic view of Kathmandu valley’s expanding concrete jungle below. As the elevation rises, the scene transitions to terrace farms, meticulously carved by the farmers of Dakshinkali. Among these terraced fields, one often encounters farmers who represent the transitioning face of agricultural practices in the area.

Transitioning Agricultural Landscapes

Agriculture remains the backbone for many farming households in Dakshinkali Municipality. Farmers cultivate a wide range of crops, including cereals such as rice, wheat, buckwheat, and maize; seasonal vegetables such as tomato, chili, cucumber, pumpkin, long beans, cabbage, cauliflower, spinach, radish, and onion; and spices such as mustard, turmeric, garlic and ginger. The municipality is also famous for its dairy products such as khuwa (evaporated milk solids) prepared from cow or buffalo milk.

Kalpana Maya (pseudonym), a 32-year-old married woman living in the village of Simpane in Dakshinkali, is a mother of two adorable boys. She belongs to the Tamang indigenous community of Nepal. Growing up, she did not have an opportunity to go to school and is not able to read and write. However, Kalpana is one of the experienced farmers in the village, having inherited the traditional farming knowledge passed down through generations of farmers in her family. With the knowledge she has, she engages herself in subsistence farming on her small, family-owned land. In her spare time, she also runs a little shop where she serves simple home-cooked meals, tea, and homemade raksi (alcohol) to the villagers passing by. Her shop was our go-to place for lunch during our field visits. She would often serve lunch prepared using her farm’s produce usually consisting of the local variety of rice, fresh spinach, and hand-grounded tomato pickle infused with green chilies and timmur (Sichuan pepper). The meal would be so hearty and wholesome that most of us would find ourselves asking for second helpings. While Kalpana Maya feels a deep sense of joy serving fresh food produced using the traditional practices, she now faces growing pressure to adapt to new practices such as using chemical fertilizers and pesticides to meet the market demand.

Once uncommon in the hills of Dakshinakli, chemical fertilizers and pesticides are gradually becoming part of the farming toolkit. Farmers who relied on traditional knowledge for generations to sustain their livelihoods are now attracted to using chemicals with an expectation of higher yields and income. However, farmers usually have limited knowledge about the underlying risks, leaving them vulnerable to its long-run implications such as soil degradation and different health concerns. There have been cases where farmers fell ill after using chemical fertilizers in their farms, but they simply ignored the symptoms and continued working. Such instances are deeply concerning as it reflects how farmers, unaware of the health risks, are unable to take proper preventive measures.

Why Reliable Agricultural Extension Matters

With the introduction of modern technologies, use of chemicals, emergence of new pests and diseases, change in eating habits, and climate change, traditional knowledge is now not enough. In order to address this gap between traditional and modern farming practices, farmers like Kalpana Maya need reliable agricultural extension services. The primary source of agricultural information for Kalpana Maya is her neighboring farmers as they are accessible, she has known them for many years, and can trust them. She learns from their experiences just as they learn from hers. But that is not enough! 

Rama Krishna (pseudonym), a middle-aged farmer popular among the villagers as a committed local extension agent, lives around a 20-minutes’ walk from her home. The advice he gives to the farmers is based on his farming experience and participation in several government-led training-of-trainers. Many farmers, including Kalpana Maya, look up to him whenever they have confusion or if the information is too technical. Rama Krishna would also visit the farmers from time to time and give them updates on the programs and schemes available at the local government. Farmers feel comfortable approaching him as he is a native from the village and speaks their mother tongue, Tamang, fluently. However, although Rama Krishna is a government-trained integrated pest management trainer, and has facilitated various Farmer Field Schools (FFS), he is not a government employed extension agent. Being the native of the area and deeply connected to the local farming community, he supports and advises farmers of Dakshinkali out of personal dedication. This limits his ability to provide regular agricultural extension to the farmers.

Due to inadequate knowledge, many farmers are left with no choice but having to rely on the advice of local agro-vets. For example, for input supplies such as seed, fertilizer, and for pest and disease management, Kalpana Maya visits the nearby and easily accessible agro-vet’s shop. However, each trip to the agro-vet fills her with uncertainty. She recalls her friend sharing how each visit to the agro-vet would result in a bag full of unfamiliar products, unsure of what most of them actually were.  

The responsibility of public extension services recently shifted from federal to local government. As a result, many villagers in Simpane expected the services to be more accessible. However, the services have not met their expectations. The services remain limited and can only reach a few farmers who have ‘chineko manche’ (personal network) in the government offices, leaving Kalpana and her friends questioning the system. The Agriculture Development Strategy 2015–2035 of Nepal, reflects the issue of inadequate human resources with the ratio of public extension agent to farmer being 1:2000. The gap is much higher in comparison to that of other developing countries which impedes timely exchange of relevant agricultural information to improve farm productivity.

This situation made Kalpana along with 29 of her fellow farmer friends to join hands and form the Jhamkeshwori Farmer Group in 2020. They believed that collective action would make it easier to approach the government and access relevant information and services. Apart from that, they were also hopeful that they could collect their agricultural produce and sell it in the market collectively, improving their bargaining power with the traders. To meet their objectives, they hold group meetings every month where they exchange their challenges, learnings, and discuss their plans. However, there is a lot of information and opportunities that they still miss even as a group. Applying for government programs often requires proper paper documentation, which for them is a difficult process as they lack necessary knowledge and ability to provide it. They strongly feel that there is a lack of a reliable public platform where they can openly share their struggles and receive proper guidance.

Potential of Digital Agro-Advisory Services

With the advancement in technology, digital agro-advisory services (DAS) have emerged as innovative tools with the potential to address the challenges that farmers like Kalpana face. These tools can narrow the gaps in the existing agricultural extension approaches today by providing timely and relevant information to the farmers. According to the latest census of Nepal in 2021, more than 70 percent of households in the country have smartphones. However, ownership of smartphones does not mean that these households use their smartphones for agricultural purposes. Rather, many farmers in Simpane village own a smartphone but its use is limited to making calls, and for entertainment purposes like watching trending videos on TikTok and YouTube. Farmers have not been able to utilize it as a tool they can use to learn and be able to access, understand, and apply information to their farming practices. Several challenges contribute to this gap, such as lack of awareness, digital illiteracy, affordability of smartphones, limited internet connectivity, and unreliable mobile network.

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The Digital Farmer Field School as an Intervention

Recognizing the challenges of limited knowledge, the ineffective extension services, and the potential of DAS, Kathmandu University (KU), through the AgriPath project, conducted a Digital Farmer Field School (DFFS) as a research activity. The DFFS aimed to introduce a variety of digital tools to the farmers that could assist them in making informed decisions throughout a crop cycle. This research activity aligns with the AgriPath project’s commitment in developing farmer-centered DAS interventions based on real-world farming experiences. For this purpose, KU approached Rama Krishna, to facilitate the DFFS.  

Rama Krishna made this research intervention particularly promising because he is a native of Simpane. He has a good understanding of the local context, the people, their social dynamics, and farming practices. Because of the trainings he attended and his farmer’s network outside of the village, he also has knowledge about the changing agricultural practices. His insights played a key role in planning the DFFS. It aimed at expanding farmers’ digital reach while acknowledging their local roots, ensuring that it is relevant and relatable for the farmers.

Over the course of more than six months, Rama Krishna worked closely with the Jhamkeshwori Farmer Group which included Kalpana Maya and 25 of her farmer friends (18 female and 7 male). They were eager to learn about sustainable farming practices to curb soil degradation as it is one of the prominent challenges that they are facing in the village. Farmers were introduced to different digital tools such as laptops, tablets, smartphones, projectors, mobile-based applications, call centers, and information on e-documents, giving them the freedom to explore and choose what works best for them.

For many of the farmers, the DFFS was the first experience with a farmer field school, and for few, it was the first-ever class that they had attended. On top of that, the ‘digital’ component made them eager to join the DFFS. Excited to learn, Kalpana Maya even decided to volunteer her land and a room in her house to be used for the DFFS. Besides, it was inspiring to see participants, particularly females, enthusiastic to join even if it meant balancing the sessions with their household chores and farm duties.

Although interested, Kalpana was skeptical about accessing agricultural services through digital tools, as she had never used them for farming purposes. But as the DFFS was facilitated by someone she already knew, looked up to and trusted, she was more open to learn. Further, when she actually saw Rama Krishna use new digital platforms, demonstrate, and provide hands-on training, and her friends also using them, she did not shy away from trying.

Despite her motivation to learn, Kalpana faced challenges due to her lack of formal education. She struggled to follow Rama Krishna’s instructions on navigating a mobile-based agricultural application, as it required her to read and retain the information that was given on the screen to navigate through the mobile app. At the same time, there were other young participants who were confident in their ability to use a smartphone but could not afford to buy one themselves. 

In spite of differences in age, gender, and socio-economic background, the DFFS provided a peer-to-peer learning platform where participants like Kalpana could find support. Kalpana found it supportive to share her smart mobile with a young participant who did not own one but knew how to use it. The young participant would follow Rama Krishna’s instructions and guide Kalpana step by step. This enhanced Kalpana’s understanding of using the application while also providing hands-on access to the young participant.

Additionally, Rama Krishna as a facilitator engaged with all the participants and guided them on the operation of a mobile phone, how to download agricultural applications, register on the app, explore its features such as sending queries to the agricultural experts and accessing market and weather information. Such guidance from Rama Krishna also kept Kalpana motivated. Rama Krishna would invest extra time to patiently explain the process to Kalpana and farmers who found it difficult to understand. He would also ask them to reach out to him if they faced any problems or errors while using such applications and created a Viber group to encourage the use of digital platforms in communicating their needs.

What was even more intriguing for Kalpana was discussing pest and disease-related challenges with one of the plant health and disease experts from the National Agricultural Research Council (NARC) through a video call which Rama Krishna had facilitated utilizing his network. This left Kalpana realizing that she does not only have to rely on the agro-vets for her concerns related to pest and disease management. 

Each DFFS session reduced Kalpana’s skepticism on using DAS for agro-advisory. Encouraged by what she learned, she would excitedly share her learnings with her husband, neighboring farmers, and villagers who would come to her shop. However, inadequate skills, lack of access to the internet, high cost of mobile data, and regular power outages still restrict her from exploring the mobile applications on her own. As a result, she eagerly looks forward to more opportunities like DFFS, where she can continue to learn about sustainable practices and work on her digital literacy skills. 

The journey of Kalpana and her friends reflect the broader opportunities and challenges that smallholder farmers experience in the Dakshinkali hills. While DAS hold the potential to provide relevant, timely, and reliable information to support the farmers, merely having the technology available is not enough. For the smallholder farmers to actually benefit from DAS, they need consistent guidance and support in accessing, understanding, and applying the information provided from an approachable and trusted community-based agent like Rama Krishna who also holds a strong understanding of the local context. Equally important is a collective collaboration with local government institutions and private sector actors to scale the reach of DAS among smallholder farmers and enhance farmers’ capacity to make the most out of it amid the transitioning agricultural landscapes.

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