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. Rice is one of the three crops selected for the focus of IFC‘s advisory intervention, apart from sugarcane and maize. It is the most important staple crop that comprises more than 50% of the total cereals produced and consumed in the country.
The performance of the agricultural economy in Nepal is largely determined by the performance of the rice crop. Private sectors, particularly rice mills and rice traders, have a high level of interest in the rice crop. The project is implemented in two geographic clusters of the eastern Terai region – Sunsari and Morang. Morang and Sunsari are the major rice-growing districts in the region with fertile land and suitable climatic conditions for rice cultivation.
The project is being implemented with an agro-processing group, Sharada Industries Pvt. Ltd, as the lead firm, and Practical Action Consulting Nepal as the implementing partner. It seeks to promote a variety of potential adaptation options for rice farmers so that climate change risks can be better understood and mitigated.
Solutions Consultant Pvt. Ltd. is entrusted by IFC to evaluate the intervention in climate change risk reduction in rice farming.
The baseline was established during the harvest season for each specified crop in the base year 2014. In the case of rice, the harvest season was from November-December 2013; the baseline data for the rice was taken during the months of April-May, 2014.
