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or fruits, and is supported by industry (e.g.,
providing water management). The same is true
for tea production in districts such as Tinsukia and
Dibrugarh in Assam, India where the tea industry
supports small-scale farmers to test their land
for tea cultivation which requires less labour and
provides higher incomes. It is estimated that over
47,000 ha of land are in the hands of small tea
farmers in the Brahmaputra Valley (Singh and Gosal
2011). The industry provides pesticides and training,
as well as contract-farming agreements that settle on
a fixed price and fixed amounts to be bought from
farmers. In Lakuridanda, Nepal, the growing market
value of winter vegetables such as cauliflower,
potato, cabbage, carrot, radish, and medicinal
herbs convinced an entire farming community to
replace their pest-ridden maize and frost-sensitive
buckwheat crops with more valuable cash crops.
There are problems associated with these new
production patterns, however. Improper soil
management and water scarcity threaten production.
Yields are still low due to limited land availability.
The greater investment in cash crops also means
less diversity in production leading to less diverse
diets and more vulnerable food security. Crop
diversity in all four HICAP study areas is already
low and in-depth research in Pakistan and Nepal
confirms that low diet diversity is contributing to
malnutrition in mountain societies (HICAP PVA).
The impacts of agricultural intensification are visible
in all HKH countries and present a challenge to
food security even without the additional burden
of climate change (Aggarwal
et al.
2004). Systems
that were meant to raise productivity some decades
back and which were not based on sustainability
criteria now cause land degradation, deforestation,
overgrazing, groundwater depletion, water pollution,
and pesticide resistance. Chemical fertilizers have
replaced soil fertility management, herbicides have
replaced inter-cropping systems (Murray 2010),
and diversification as a coping strategy to increase
resilience of traditional agricultural systems is
gradually threatened by cash crop production. In
addition, cash crops are also threatened by climate
change, just as staple crops are. HICAP field
studies found that farming systems are in a process
of restructuring due to shifting of flowering and
ripening times (Section 4.3). Sowing may be delayed
and replanting of seeds is common in situations
where crops do not look promising. It is important
that when farmers experiment with new crops they
consider not only their potential market value but
also their contribution to enhancing the resilience of
farming systems to climate change.
