Bagar-Kheti To Ensure Food Security

Bagar-Kheti, also known as "Baluwa Kheti" in Nepal, has gained popularity in recent decades, particularly in the Tarai region. It serves as an alternative form of agriculture for landless communities, enhancing their food security. Nearly 3.5 million rural people are food insecure, and 1.3 million households are reported as landless or land-poor across the country. Farmers typically prepare fields and cultivate vegetables in ditches on riverbanks after the post-monsoon season, a practice with a history spanning almost three decades, originating from nomadic farming methods. Many farmers living close to rivers, along with landless individuals, suffer from food insecurity due to limited land for cultivation, unproductive soils, low yields per unit of land, frequent flash floods, droughts, and other impacts of climate change. Riverbeds in the region are annually flooded during extreme weather events, rendering them largely unsuitable for agriculture and other purposes. Consequently, these fallow lands near riverbeds are typically unclaimed and left uncultivated.