The
village of Kagbeni lies in the arid upper part of the Kali Gandaki valley.
The aim of the project was to examine the techniques as well as the social and ecological impact of traditional land-use systems in the remote mountain region of the upper Kali Gandaki valley in Nepal under the perspective of sustainability.
We hold that traditional land-use systems should, as a rule, be well-adapted to the natural environment of the respective region because that natural environment is the basis of existence for the inhabitants. Any land-use system not adapted to the environment must, in the long run, endanger the survival of the respective society.
Traditional land-use systems, of course, still do not aim at the protection of nature, but rather may arrive at the protection of nature and ecological sustainability as a result of the various cultural/religious factors that determine the respective land-use system. On the other hand, this determination of the land-use system by more than just ecological factors makes it possible that even the (living) spaces of traditional, non-industrial societies may be ecologically overused and degraded. More important, however, modernisation is causing traditional systems to be relinquished. In this process, knowledge about the traditional systems is being lost. Still it is neither useful nor possible to insist that people should stick to a purely traditional life-style.
The objective of our study was to examine whether and how traditional land-use systems in the upper Kali Gandaki valley could be and should be part of a sustainable development process.
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The
village of Kagbeni lies in the arid upper part of the Kali Gandaki valley.
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The examination was carried out in five steps:
Steps 1-4 were intended to cover the examination of social and ecological parameters to evaluate the sustainability of the land-use system.. The evaluation was guided by the following ideas:
We chose the villages of Kagbeni and Marpha in the upper Kali Gandaki valley (Mustang district) for our study because we needed remote, but flourishing, villages for two reasons:
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The
flourishing fieldmark of Kagbeni lies like an oasis in the arid valley
of the Kali Gandaki.
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First, the more remote the location of a village is, the more likely it is that traditional land-use systems have remained in existence and, perhaps more importantly, will have a better chance to be preserved in the future.
Second, we needed villages that are not too remote, yet are representative of the region and the present development process.
Both villages are located in the arid part of the Kali Gandaki valley at an elevation between 2670 m (Marpha) and 2820 m (Kagbeni) above sea level. The average annual temperature of about 11°C allows for two harvests per year, but the low annual precipitation of about 370mm (M) BZW. 230mm (K) makes irrigation of the fields necessary. Both villages and their fields are located on rather flat terrain: Marpha (village and fields) on a fluvial terrace of the Kali Gandaki , and Kagbeni (village and main fields) on the flat plain of the Dzong Chu. A special phenomenon is the heavy dayperiodical wind in the Kali Gandaki valley.
Both villages have a reasonable infrastructure (school, pharmacy/medical doctor, electricity, telephone, shops, guesthouses) and are connected to a vital travel- and transport-network (travellers hiking or on horseback, transport by porter and with mules/donkeys/ponies).
They are not directly connected to any road-, rail- or airplane-network.
The present land-use system of Kagbeni and Marpha is the result of changes, but we would still call it a traditional one because the techniques have hardly changed. Only the planted crops and the domestic animals changed during the last 40 years.
The changes came with the Tibetan guerilla war, when mules were introduced to Kagbeni and the cultivation of maize and vegetables like cabbage was improved.
The traditional crop of the area is buckwheat, which is still one of the main crops in Kagbeni, but only a minor product in Marpha. We call crops ‘traditional’, if they are adapted to the ecological environment, if thus allow self support on a reasonable level, and if the techniques needed to produce them are not dependent on the market (i.e. machines, oil).
a) Kagbeni
Kagbeni has about 500 inhabitants plus about 1600 goats, 200 horses/mules/donkeys and 200 cows/yaks. Agricultural land is divided into three major units: Sung, south of the village, lies directly in the Kali Gandaki valley, while Soen (north and east of the village) and Sango (east of the village) are located more remote in the Dzong Chu valley and are therefore less affected by the day-periodical wind.
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The
Dzong Chu river the source for irrigation in Kagbeni.
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The main crops are barley and buckwheat; other products are maize, apples, apricots and different vegetables. The land is carefully terraced and irrigated. The maintenance of terrace edges and irrigation channels is the responsibility of the whole community and is usually carried out in winter. We could not find any damage to the terrace edges. Terrace edges supported a thick cover of grass and other plants.
According to the Kagbeni villagers, the irrigation channels (that are dug into the ground) sometimes carry too little water, but that does not seriously affect the harvest yields.
The harvest yields are considered quite good and constant; extremes are an exception.
The resources Kagbeni farmers use are their own seeds, natural fertiliser (dung) and water from the Dzong Chu river. Minor amounts of chemical fertiliser (bought at the Agricultural Office in Jomsom) are used if there is not enough dung, although the latter is considered to be of far better quality.
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Skillfull
irrigation allows the plantation of horticulures.
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In spite of the fact that no part of the plants remains on the field, the soils contain a high amount of organic material and can be regarded as fimic anthrosols. In addition, soils have a high silt content and for that reason are good soil for farming.
While the beautiful agricultural land offers good conditions and seems to be an oasis, the surrounding slopes are sparsely vegetated and desert-like. Even though this is caused more by climate than by human impact, grazing animals place a heavy load on the vegetation as well as on the soils (leptosols). The most serious impact of pasturalism cannot be observed around the village, because the main pasture land (and wood-reserve) is located in Sangda, about 4 hours by foot to the north-west. Villagers told us that the problems there (shortage of fodder, degradation) are slowly increasing.
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A
flock of goats coming down a steep gravelslope.
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Wood for construction purposes is not available in the vicinity of Kagbeni. Most is brought up by porters from Kalopani, 1-2 days walk south in the Kali Gandaki valley. All work is done by hand; there are no machines in Kagbeni except one threshing-machine, which is rarely used because the benefit for the farmers is too small (less work, but the crops have to be carried much farther).
Kagbeni farmers can support themselves with a great variety of products and have to buy very little on the market - e.g. plants that cannot be cultivated in Kagbeni (e.g. rice) or products for tourists (drinks, sweets). The latter is not considered a financial problem in Kagbeni.
There is no ACAP or other agricultural program for Kagbeni.
b) Marpha
Marpha is a village of about 600 inhabitants plus about 400 goats, 350 mules/donkeys and 550 cows/yaks. Agricultural land is located on the fluvial terrace of the Kali Gandaki, east of the village which is shielded a little more against the wind. The main crops are barley, maize and apples; other products are vegetables and buckwheat. Because of the rather flat terrain there is little need to terrace the land. Irrigation channels are very well built and coated with stones. The harvests, like those in Kagbeni, are considered good. A recent problem is the lack of a market for apples. As in Kagbeni, only few extra resources (e.g. chemical fertiliser) are brought in from an outside market.
The soils are fimic anthrosols as in Kagbeni, but the quality may be a bit better.
In contrast to Kagbeni, the slopes around Marpha are more densely covered with vegetation, but here we see strong land degradation and erosion caused by pasturage. Currently, main pasture-land is farther up in the mountains. No problems with the land have been observed by the farmers up to now.
In Marpha there has been a change in land-use due to large-scale planting of apple-trees. Still, traditional farming prevails. Agricultural programs for Marpha concentrate on horticulture (fruit trees).
Even though the villages of Kagbeni and Marpha differ in various factors, traditional agricultural methods persist in both villages. The traditional land-use systems are highly adapted to the ecological environment and to the social demands of the villagers. The present land-use systems are shaped by traditional methods combined with changes in cropping and pasturalisme caused by the development of the last 40 years.
The social and economic demands of the local population have been changing during the last decades, but most traditional methods still fit well into the present structural development.
The traditional land-use can provide for agricultural subsistence on a high level, thus offering a certain degree of independence from trade and markets, a social as well as ecological benefit that should not be underestimated.
Today´s ecological problems are mainly caused by the recent development of pasturalism: soil erosion induced by overgrazing. It is therefore of great importance to develop a sustainable system of pasturalism. Pasturalism is the most problematic part of the present land-use-system in ecological terms, but, on the other hand, is the provider of natural fertiliser and therefore one basis for the good harvest yields.
The approach to support sustainable development through the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) can be very helpful. It is a chance to support and coordinate processes and to avoid irreversible mistakes. This is, of course, a very pretentious task and not easy to carry out.
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