Chapter VI Fodder development in leasehold forest areas

The project described aims to improve the conditions of families living below the poverty line while improving environmental conditions in forest land in the Nepal Hills. Degraded forest land is allocated to poor households on long, renewable leases. The lessees have the use of the land but must manage it carefully, avoid grazing and undertake improvement work. Technical services provide training, technical support and some inputs. In the decade 1993 – 2003 some 7 457 hectares of degraded land were leased. There has been impressive natural regeneration through closure to grazing thus making more fodder, including tree fodder, available and fodder crops have also been sown. Firewood availability is much improved and time taken for fodder and fuel collection much reduced. Livestock condition and quality has been improved and the poorest families can now keep stall-fed goats. Background The people of the Hills of Nepal are very poor which has forced them to misuse forest and land resources. Government priorities are restoration of the environment and poverty reduction for the rural poor. The Master Plan for the Forestry Sector (1988), the Agriculture Perspective Plan (1995) and the Tenth Five Year Plans are the policy instruments for poverty alleviation and environmental restoration. The Leasehold Forestry Programme is one outcome of these policies