Nepal

Stories from The Youth for Climate Resilient Agriculture (YCRA) Programme :

In 2022, FAO and IAAS, in collaboration with YPARD, launched the Youth for Green and Climate-Resilient Agriculture (YCRA) Programme to support youth in their efforts to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change in agriculture and the food system. Through a competitive application process, 8 youth-led projects working for greener and more resilient agrifood systems were selected. Throughout the year, the teams received capacity-building and mentoring to help them take their projects to the next level. 

As the programme comes to an end, this series of articles will reflect on the progress and achievements of the 8 youth-led projects. This fifth article introduces the challenges of apple farming in the Himalayan region and how Samir and his team plan to answer them. 

Higher Himalaya Project: for better Himalayan agriculture 

Agriculture in the Himalayan region is underperforming due to uneven and extreme topography and a lack of basic infrastructure. In particular, the shortage lack of electrical supply in this region derives in high-tech storage being nearly impossible to set up. For apple farmers, this means no access to refrigeration units and, thus, high risks of losing their harvested product. 

The Higher Himalaya project aims to answer this challenge by creating a  cold chamber that will operate without energy input. This community development project targets apple farmers, and it is now small-scale and implemented in the Jumla region. However, plans to expand and replicate the concept in other regions are already in the project team’s minds. Four agricultural engineering students conduct the Higher Himalaya project. Samir Tiwari, the project lead, looks back at us on the achievements of 2022.

Looking back on 2022

At the beginning of 2022, the Higher Himalaya project was focused on validating its zero-energy cold storage technology and securing funding. In doing so, they received help from the YCRA programme, where they were selected among the 8 participating teams.

"It has been an amazing experience for me,” reported Samir. “I had the opportunity to attend a capacity building training in Bonn Germany which IAAS organized. The training benefited our personal development and broadened our business knowledge.” 

The team had to face several challenges to keep developing Higher Himalaya. With poor road infrastructure in Jumla and harsh weather conditions, travels to test out the cold chamber in real conditions are difficult. In addition, juggling between studies and business makes time management a big challenge for the team.

Nevertheless, the feasibility studies were completed. Through the YCRA, the team was able to build more connections and network with stakeholders. They also met with a mentor who was very instrumental in helping them. Eduardo Duque Dussán, PhD candidate at the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague, helped them get in touch with other organizations and develop proposal writing skills to explore funding opportunities and improve their technical outputs related to the storage unit.

In 2023, the team will finish their studies. Samir plans to become an entrepreneur for at least a year to focus on developing Higher Himalaya. Although securing funding is still a significant challenge, the technical part of the project is progressing steadily and the team is already looking to expand its service to locations other than Nepal with similar climatic conditions. 

 Thomas Westhoff