ADB_book_18 April.qxp - Himalayan Document Centre - icimod

Mountain areas have the most food inadequatehouseholds (35%), followed by the Terai (34%) andHills (28%).There is a correlation between the level of foodinsecurity and the agricultural conditions of farmersin food deficit districts. The problems are mostsevere in remote mountainous areas where thecropping intensities and crop yields are the lowest,population of livestock per household is the highest,and the opportunities for high-value agriculturalproduction and access to off-farm employment aremost limited. The livestock on which these foodinsecurepeople depend most heavily are lowyielding due to poor health, resulting in lowproductivity, and high morbidity and mortality rates(NLSS 2004).The NLSS indicates that households growingvegetables (both winter and summer) have used thelargest amount of improved seeds (33%) followed byonion (18%) and potato (16%). Cereal crops are lessimportant in terms of use of improved seeds. Thepercentage of agricultural households usingimproved seeds is less in rural areas than urbanareas in all selected crops—paddy, wheat, maize,potato, onion, and vegetables. Paddy growers usedthe highest percentage (66%) of chemical fertilizeramong other agricultural households, followed bywheat (56%), maize (34%), potato (22%), and othercrops. Fertilizer use is less among agriculturalhouseholds in rural areas than in urban areas (NLSS2004).SummaryIn recent years Nepal’s poverty situation hasimproved significantly at national, rural, and urbanlevels. However, poverty remains a complex andmultidimensional phenomenon. Poverty is deeper,more intense, and more severe in rural areas than inurban areas as measured by parameters like adultliteracy, life expectancy, population without access tosafe water, and the human poverty index. Likewise,the intensity of poverty measured in terms of povertygap and poverty severity is greater for rural areas thanfor urban areas. Poverty is greater among thedeprived communities of rural areas.There is a big disparity between rural and urbanareas in terms of human development facilities. TheHDI in rural areas is approximately 22% lower than inurban areas and the incidence of poverty 68% higher.The HEI for rural areas is 41% lower than that forurban areas. Urban areas surpass rural areas in termsof social, economic, and political dimensions ofhuman empowerment. The low level of ruraleconomic empowerment is due to limited access toproductive assets and lack of gainful employmentFarmyard Manure for the Next Crops in the Countrysideof Kathmanduopportunities. The low level of social empowermentof rural areas is due to attributes like poor access tosocial infrastructure (education, health, andcommunication media) and income-earningopportunities. As a result of hardship and inaccessibility,and limited access to economic infrastructure,productive assets, and employment outsideagriculture, Mountain areas lag behind other regionsin all three dimensions of human empowerment andtherefore rank among the lowest levels of economicdevelopment. The level of political empowerment isrelatively better than that of social and economicempowerment, in all areas: rural or urban, andregions. However, the current level of both economicand social empowerment remains far too low toeffectively address the overarching goal of povertyreduction on a sustained basis.Rural households derive their incomes largelyfrom agriculture through self-employment and wageemployment, and they are most dependent on theagricultural sector for their livelihoods. This alsosuggests that opportunities for non-agriculturalemployment are limited in rural areas. Hill areasprovide relatively better opportunities for nonagriculturalemployment than the Terai or theMountains, whereas wage agricultural employmentis highest in the Terai, indicating that there aresignificant numbers of marginal farmers or landlesspoor people in the Terai.Disparities occur not only between rural andurban areas and among the regions, but alsobetween upper and lower social classes. However,past development efforts have remained largelyunsuccessful in attaining equitable and inclusivedevelopment of deprived areas and communitiesinto the national mainstream. A major element of theTenth Plan’s poverty reduction strategy is to begin toclose this gap as rapidly as possible bymainstreaming deprived communities and regions inthe development process. The existing mismatchbetween socioeconomic and political empower-B. Pradhan28 Environment Assessment of Nepal : Emerging Issues and Challenges