The Chure Hills runs east to west throughout Nepal. Being smallest mountain range in the Himalayas, it is very fragile, dry and erosion prone. During monsoon season, river bank cutting and landslides are frequent phenomenon which is caused by small brooks originated from the Chure hills. Due to low water retention quality of soil, people rely on rainfed agriculture in the area. The project come up with innovative solution to build a small compounding dam to retain water, which would not only help in reducing river bank cutting, but also provide water for irrigation throughout the year. Tthe project proposes to pilot in the Bhurahi river, Haripurwa Municipality, Sarlahi district.
The climatic data taken at the Karmaiya meteorological station, Sarlahi from 2003 to 2014 reveal that more than 84% of the total annual precipitation occurs during the monsoon season . Out of this, 37% of the total monsoon precipitation occurs during the month of July only. The remaining months of the year receives either very little or even no rainfall. Large parcels of agricultural lands in Sarlahi district remain either uncultivated or cultivated under rain-fed condition. Only, 65% of the total arable lands were transplanted due to droughts in 2015. During the previous years, 20% of the arable lands remained uncultivated due to insufficient monsoon precipitation.
It is estimated that out of 65,000 ha of irrigable land in Sarlahi district, only 32,000 ha lands has received irrigation facilities so fa . The district faced food deficit of 28,224 MT in 2013/ 2014 . Haripurwa municipality of the district is one of them. Most of the land tenures are pro-poor and belong to Dalits (socially excluded) and Janajatis (indigenous people) ethnic groups such as Teli, Dhanuk, Yadav, Paswan, Lohar, Chamar, Muslim and Dhobi. It is estimated that 272 hectares of agricultural lands of this municipality are rain-fed. Since the monsoon and winter precipitations are unreliable due to changing climate, the main crops, paddy and wheat are at high risks. The farmers are gradually becoming less able to produce enough food in absence of adequate irrigation facilities. At present, the productivity of paddy and wheat is 2.4 tones/ha and 1.2 tones/ha, respectively. Sugarcane yield is estimated as 6 tons/ha. This yield is lower than that of the district average production.
The effects of prolonged and over use of chemical fertilizers in agriculture has also triggered land degradation. The sales of chemical fertilizers in Sarlahi district is urea 1,138 tons, DAP 1001 tons, and muriate of potash 66 tons in 2011/2012. The farmers apply high level of chemicals fertilizers (180 kg/ha in form of urea and DAP) for paddy crop. But, Muriate of Potash is not applied at all. Insects are controlled by applying Thimate at the rate of 15 kg/ha. Thus, the farmers have a burden of spending an additional costs of US$ 126/ha for agrochemicals. The farmers do perceive that their agricultural lands are gradually degrading, and are producing food grains in spite of application of an increased quantity of agrochemicals. Hence, there is an urgent need to maintain and improve the prevailing land productivity through eco-friendly agricultural practices, i.e. zero-budget natural farming.