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Focus on Hindu Kush-Himalaya
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Farming system
The Hindu Kush-Himalaya region is the Highland Mixed System, generally intermediate between the rice-wheat system of the lowlands and the sparse mountain systems above, extends across the entire Himalaya range and into the North Africa and Near East region. Generally, ruminant livestock are an important part of the system because they provide draught power, milk, manure and cash income. However, the system is vulnerable, due to overgrazing of rangeland, remoteness and the lack of social services in many areas. The prevalence of poverty and food insecurity is rated between moderate and severe, depending on the location.
Lying at elevations above 3000 m along the middle and upper Himalaya slopes, the Sparse Mountain System has a rural population of only 4 million. Soil erosion in the highland and upper watersheds is widespread and is being worsened by heavy grazing and the loss of nutrients from cropland, posing grave threats to household survival. Households supplement their income by seasonal migration and in some cases by trade, mountaineering and tourism. In some areas, social cohesion is absent or very poorly developed, making it difficult to resolve land-ownership disputes or to obtain agreement on the use and management of common lands. Poverty is moderate overall, although more severe in some remote areas.
Promising mountain products
Between October 2004 and March 2005, the FAO Mountain Products Programme funded a study for the Prioritization and Preliminary analysis of Strategic Sub-sectors in Bhutan, India and Nepal, which was carried out by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). Using a methodology for Promotion of Commercially Viable Solutions to Subsector and Business Constraints developed by Action for Enterprise, the Cordyseps sinensis (medicinal plant), matsutake wild mushroom, tasar silk and lokta handmade paper were selected, an analysis of constraints or bottlenecks along the supply chains carried out and suggestions for interventions to improve the value chains were made.
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The definitions of farming systems in mountain areas are adapted from 'Towards a GIS-based analysis of mountain environments and populations' (FAO, 2003). Read more
