specialises in forestry and is currently working as a Gender and Natural Resource Management specialist at ICIMOD.
Janita Gurung, PhD,
is working as a Programme Coordinator of the Kangchenjunga Landscape Conservation Development Initiative (KLCDI) at ICIMOD. With expertise in biodiversity, Dr Gurung is interested in landscape ecology, cultural ecosystem services and community vulnerability.
Tashi Dorji, PhD,
is working as a Programme Coordinator of the KLCDI at ICIMOD. Dr Dorji has a doctoral degree in animal husbandry and is interested in livestock and rangeland management.
Yadav Uprety, PhD,
is currently working as an Assistant Professor at Tribhuvan University, Nepal. Dr Uprety is interested in the interface of social and natural sciences with a special focus on traditional ecological knowledge, human-environment interactions, biodiversity use and environmental policies.
Ram P. Chaudhary, PhD,
is a Professor Emeritus at Tribhuvan University, Nepal.
Prof. Dr Chaudhary is a renounce plant taxonomist and ecologist with a wide range of interests including ethnobotany, landscape ecology and natural resource management among others.
Nakul Chettri, PhD,
is currently working as Regional Programme Manager, Transboundary Landscape Programme at ICIMOD.
Dr Chettri has more than 20 years of experience in biodiversity conservation, landscape management, ecosystem services, climate change impact assessment, biodiversity informatics, and upscaling and promotion of transboundary landscapes.
Email: [email protected]
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Abstract
Collective action can strengthen rural market linkages through the engagement of women and other marginalised groups. It can help to address challenges such as small quantities, time poverty, illiteracy and limited rural mobility. An example of successful collective action is the Kangchenjunga Landscape Conservation and Development Initiative (KLCDI).
The KLCDI and implementing partners worked to upgrade the Argeli (Edgeworthia gardneri) value chain in the Panchthar district of eastern Nepal. The Argeli plant provides the raw material for the production of hand-made paper and its white fibre is in high demand for the preparation of Japanese yuan. In
addition to making the value chain gender inclusive, four areas were pursued: i) process upgrading, ii) product upgrading, iii) function upgrading and iv) business enabling environment upgrading.
Evidence from the KLCDI shows that collective action can improve the condition of women and the marginalised, such as small-scale farmers embedded within rural market systems. Despite these efforts, Argeli-enterprise development continues to face several challenges related to existing legislation and
regulations, which also impact the women who benefit from these enterprises. Challenges include that Argeli production from private land is considered to be a
forest product; hurdles based on inappropriate Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) registration;
establishment formalities;
and additional royalties and taxation. These challenges discourage Argeli producers, mainly women and poor and marginalised groups. Effective dialogue with producers, traders and government stakeholders is necessary for the government to recognise the value of NTFPs in enhancing local livelihoods and providing benefits to marginalised groups, particularly women, so that they are encouraged to undertake NTFP-based enterprises.
Keywords:
gender value chain collective action rural marketing Nepal
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Background
The mountain people in the Hindu Kush Himalayas (HKH) region are one of the most impoverished populations in the world. A number of research studies have indicated that globalisation and climate change are likely to worsen food insecurity in the region more than in many places in the world (Hunjai et al., 2011). This is due to high dependence on local agricultural production and rampant natural resource depletion. Poor accessibility is another critical issue in this region, which is exacerbated by the lack of basic infrastructure and connectivity to markets, resulting in high transaction costs and network failures (Jodha, 2005; Gioli et al., 2019). Hence, there is an urgent need to find alternative livelihood options to ensure food security in this mountainous region. Even though women play an essential role in local food production and they have different vulnerabilities compared to men, they face social, economic and political barriers which limit their resilience capacities.
To respond to these challenges, mountain people have been adopting risk-averting and resilience strategies for food security including livelihood diversification across on-farm and non-farm sectors
(Wymann et al., 2013; Gioli et al., 2020). For instance, the outmigration of youth for economic reasons is common in the region. This comes at a cost to female residents, who must take on new roles and responsibilities, particularly in relation to food security, such as farm management and disaster preparedness. Women are not necessarily prepared to take on these roles and responsibilities. Therefore, the acquisition of new skills, capacities and knowledge is key to building resilient livelihoods and ensuring regional and local food security.
With a focus on strengthening the resilience and adaptive capacities of women, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) initiated a number of activities based on the principles of collective action for marketing. At the heart of these interventions lies the engagement of a range of existing informal local institutions, such as women farmer groups. The Kangchenjunga Landscape Conservation and Development Initiative1 (KLCDI) is one such example. The KLCDI, an action research project, focuses on agriculture and farming practices in the region with the vision of enhancing the resilience capacities of mountain people, particularly women, to overcome climate change
1 The Kangchenjunga Landscape Conversation and Development Initiative (KLCDI) is committed to the conservation of the important biodiversity, ecosystems, and livelihoods of the Kangchenjunga Landscape, which stretches across Bhutan, Nepal along the southern side of Mountain Kangchenjunga.
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and other risk factors (Molden et al., 2014; Gurung et al., 2016).
The KLCDI has identified women and women’s groups as key entry points for collective rural enterprise planning to enhance market access, build entrepreneurial skills and offer social and economic empowerment opportunities.