Vegetables in Hilly Areas Project

About the Project

In Nepal, an investment of $12 million will improve the livelihoods and food security of poor households in targeted communities and enhance their access to agriculture markets and financial services.  

The key results from the project would include: (i) household income from horticulture production increased; (ii) linkages to markets and financial services improved; (iii) dietary diversity among women in participating households increased, and (iv) resilience of farmers to climate change improved.  

The project will support poor households with less than 4 ropani (0.2 ha) of agricultural land particularly, women-headed households, women within poor households, and ethnic women, for the development of irrigated OSV production. The project will be implemented in 100 municipalities across 5 provinces that have been selected for their suitability for horticulture development and access to the Mid-Hills highway and its north-south feeder roads. Ethnic people form approximately 30% of the population in the targeted municipalities, are often poor, and would be proportionally represented in the project. At least 60% of the people benefitting will be women, who, along with other family members, including youths, will be supported to organize in various ways to better access technical and nutritional knowledge, crop inputs, finance, and markets.  

The project will be aligned with the planned US$83 million ADB-financed Nuts and Fruits in Hilly Areas (NAFHA) project. Activities to be implemented under the GAFSP grant are organized under the following three components: 1) farmer identification, capacity building, and organization; 2) smallholder farmers’ out-of-season vegetable production and beekeeping increased, and 3) market access enhanced.