Soil and plant health schools for smallholder farmers

Country

Nepal

Student

Stewart Wilson, University of California, Davis

Description

Soil health and crop health provide the foundation for the development of a healthy community. Chitwan district in central Nepal is a major vegetable production pocket for the surrounding area and Kathmandu. Vegetable production in Chitwan faces challenges due to no or low availability of inputs and a lack of knowledge on improved soil and crop health management. A season-long farmer’s school focused on soil and vegetable crop health will be developed to support local vegetable producers in Chitwan. This project proposes to train innovative vegetable farmers on improved vegetable production and integrated strategies for soil and plant health management. Graduate and undergraduate students will be trained, and experts from Agriculture and Forestry University will be engaged in the successful implementation of the project. Soil and plant health assessment and improved management practices will be demonstrated. Farmer-to-farmer training will be conducted to scale up the project to the broader area.