Responsible Agricultural Mechanization Innovation for the Sustainable Development of Nepal’s Hillside Farming System

Rachana Devkota, Laxmi Prasad Pant, Hom Nath Gartaula, Kirit Patel, Devendra Gauchan, Helen Hambly-Odame, Balaram Thapa and Manish N. Raizada
Additional contact information
Rachana Devkota: School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
Laxmi Prasad Pant: School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
Hom Nath Gartaula: International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), New Delhi 110012, India
Kirit Patel: International Development Studies, Menno Simons College, Canadian Mennonite University, Winnipeg, MB R3C OG2, Canada
Devendra Gauchan: Bioversity International, C/O National Agricultural Genetic Resource Centre (Genebank), Khumaltar, Kathmandu P.O. Box 3055, Nepal
Helen Hambly-Odame: School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
Balaram Thapa: Local Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research, and Development (LI-BIRD), Pokhara P.O. Box 324, Nepal
Manish N. Raizada: Department of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-24

Abstract: Agricultural mechanization in developing countries has taken at least two contested innovation pathways—the “incumbent trajectory” that promotes industrial agriculture, and an “alternative pathway” that supports small-scale mechanization for sustainable development of hillside farming systems. Although both pathways can potentially reduce human and animal drudgery, the body of literature that assesses the sustainability impacts of these mechanization pathways in the local ecological, socio-economic, cultural, and historical contexts of hillside farms is either nonexistent or under-theorized. This paper addresses this missing literature by examining the case of Nepal’s first Agricultural Mechanization Promotion Policy 2014 (AMPP) using a conceptual framework of what will be defined as “responsible innovation”. The historical context of this assessment involves the incumbent trajectory of mechanization in the country since the late 1960s that neglected smallholder farms located in the hills and mountains and biased mechanization policy for flat areas only. Findings from this study suggest that the AMPP addressed issues for smallholder production, including gender inequality, exclusion of smallholder farmers, and biophysical challenges associated with hillside farming systems, but it remains unclear whether and how the policy promotes small-scale agricultural mechanization for sustainable development of agriculture in the hills and mountains of Nepal.

Keywords: hillside farms; gender; agricultural mechanization; sustainable agriculture; responsible innovation; Nepal (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/1/374/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/1/374/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:1:p:374-:d:304537

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().