Nepal has become the world’s second nation, after neighbouring India, to adopt a policy that encourages the growing of trees on farms aka agroforestry.

The idea of Nepal having a national agroforestry policy was born in 2014 during a visit by Javed Rizvi, director, South Asia Regional Program of World Agroforestry (ICRAF) to the-then Minister of Agriculture Development, Mr. Hari Prasad Parajuli.

Growing trees on farms emerged as one of the most prominent demands of smallholders in Nepal to improve and diversify their livelihoods and increase their resilience to climate change. Agroforestry was identified as an alternative to traditional agriculture in villages where large numbers of the male population had migrated (both in-country and abroad), abandoning about 30% of all agricultural land. Thus, finding agricultural labour and dealing with the input-intensive nature of traditional agriculture had become a great challenge for poor farming communities.

Following this initial discussion, during 2015 more than 150 people representing ministries, departments, civil-society organizations, service providers, practitioners and development partners joined a three-day consultation workshop: Present Status and Future Prospects of Agroforestry in Nepal.

The workshop was led by the Ministry of Agriculture Development and the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation and was jointly organized with ICRAF and the Asia Network for Sustainable Agriculture and Bio-resources. 

‘To ensure that the population of Nepal gets the full benefits of agroforestry, we need to develop a national agroforestry policy, and I am pleased that the process has already begun’, said the-then Minister of Forest and Soil Conservation, Mahesh Acharya as he inaugurated the meeting. 

Three days of intense discussions led to the release of the Kathmandu Declaration on Agroforestry, 2015, signed by the secretaries of the two ministries. Among other things, the declaration strongly recommended the development of policy in collaboration with ICRAF.

Hence, ICRAF with the two ministries and support from the Climate Technology Centre and Network played a pivotal role in the formulation of the agroforestry policy. The Government of Nepal established an Inter-Ministerial Coordination Committee to oversee the policy’s development and nominated Javed Rizvi as the only non-governmental member. 

In seven consultations held 2016–2018 involving about 550 stakeholders, perspectives were gathered and incorporated into the draft policy. 

‘Agroforestry should be promoted in Nepal in agricultural, degraded and barren lands’, said Yubak Dhoj GC, secretary of the renamed Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, at one of the consultations in Kathmandu. ‘I hope the new policy will address the concerns of poor farmers and benefit them greatly’. 

Both the Agriculture and Forest ministries seamlessly cooperated and successfully coordinated the process of policy development. This proved to be the single-most important factor for the success and speediness of achieving the goal of the Government. The very active participation by, and contributions from, the secretaries and joint secretaries of both ministries was critical and a testimony to a productive and positive collaboration.

The draft of the policy was finalized and handed over to Yogendra Kumar Karki, joint secretary and coordinator of the Inter-Ministerial Coordination Committee, by Rizvi in September 2018. 

As per the Government’s procedures, the draft was then reviewed by several ministries and departments and final approval was granted by the Cabinet under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister.

‘With the approval and launch of the National Agroforestry Policy, Nepal achieved the distinction of being second country globally, after India, to launch an agroforestry policy’, said Chakrapani Khanal, Minister of Agriculture, at the national launch of the policy on 3 July 2019. 

In recognition of the role of ICRAF, the Government of Nepal has confirmed Rizvi as the only non-governmental member of the inter-ministerial committee that is overseeing implementation of the policy.

World Agroforestry (ICRAF) is a centre of scientific and development excellence that harnesses the benefits of trees for people and the environment. Knowledge produced by ICRAF enables governments, development agencies and farmers to utilize the power of trees to make farming and livelihoods more environmentally, socially and economically sustainable at multiple scales. ICRAF is one of the 15 members of the CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future. We thank all donors who support research in development through their contributions to the CGIAR Fund.