The International Financial Corporation (IFC hereafter) Advisory Services in South Asia is implementing a 4-year project on Promoting Climate Resilient Agribusiness in Nepal from 2014 to 2017. IFC is supporting private sector firms to reach farmers through their market links to help them increase revenues, expand access to growth markets and enable them to adapt to climate change impacts. Maize is one of the three crops selected for the focus of IFC‘s advisory
intervention, apart from sugarcane and rice.

It is one of the most important cash crops in the country and is vulnerable to climate change. The project is implemented in two districts of the central Terai region – Bara and Parsa. Bara is a major maize-growing district in the region with required land and suitable climatic conditions for maize cultivation; while Parsa has the potential to become one as it shares similar geological
and weather conditions. The project is being implemented with an animal feed factory and pelleting plant, Probiotech Industries Pvt. Ltd, as the lead firm, and Practical Action Consulting Nepal as the implementing partner, to promote a variety of potential adaptation options for maize farmers. The project seeks to demonstrate a variety of potential adaptation options for farmers to deal with climate change risks.

Solutions Consultant Pvt. Ltd. was entrusted by IFC to evaluate the intervention in the climate
change risks reduction in maize farming.

The baseline is established during the harvest season for each specified crop in the base year 2014. In the case of maize, the harvest season was from February – April 2014; the baseline data for the maize was taken during the months of July-August 2014.