of levy collection and farmers had no idea on the importance of the group mobilization. After
the visit, they have reorganized the group structure and also started to raise
community/group funds through saving schemes. For example, farmers of Jhapa had
conflicts between indigenous and migrant communities and had the feeling that they should
spilt the group based on ethnicity. After the workshop and interaction with the farmers of Ilam
as well as seeing the effectiveness of the group, they have changed their views and
restructured their group by offering chairmanship to one of the representative farmers from
the indigenous (Rajbanshi) community. Participation has also been improved in the meetings
of the group thereafter.
Fund generation and mobilization
The importance of the fund generation and saving schemes to sustain the group has been
learnt by farmers from other research sites, especially from farmers of Ilam. The farmers of
Gulmi, Jhapa and Rupandehi have now initiated to generate fund from the membership levy
and selling seeds/planting materials. In Rupandehi the fund has been mobilized on welfare
activities targeting to the resource poor at a low interest rate. Similarly, the farmers groups in
all three sites have planned to invest a certain amount of their funds on the economically
poor members of the groups during the annual project meeting planning.
Informal exchange of seeds/planting materials among research farmers
The workshop has also facilitated in exchanging materials within the groups. For example,
Mr. Tika Ram Pokherel, a farmer from Rupandehi committed to provide 5 saplings of Napier
grass to each member of the home garden research and development committee of
Rupandehi. Similarly, other such initiatives taken by research farmers of Rupandehi are
presented in table 1.
Table 1. Details of exchanged planting materials in Rupandehi
Who What Whom How much
Mr. Tika Ram Pokherel Napier grass all members of the group 5 saplings each
Mr. Tika Ram Pokherel Ipil-ipil all members of the group 1-2 seeds each
Sita Upadhyay Four season bean all members of the group 2 each
Guna Nidhi Adhikari Local cowpea all members of the group 5 each
Bishnu K. Dumre Local Bottle gourd all members of the group 2 each
Bishnu K. Dumre Local lime all members of the group 1-2 seeds each
Participatory monitoring and supervision
The learning workshop has also motivated research farmers to develop participatory
monitoring and supervision of each other's home gardens. Research and development
committee of Rupandehi took such initiatives. After the visit, they started to monitor and
supervise each other's home gardening activities to improve the species diversity every
month.
Introduction of new plant species
This learning workshop also helped farmers to introduce new species in their home gardens.
Planting materials of tea, cardamom and Akabare khursani from Ilam were offered to the
farmers of Gulmi, based on their demand made during Travelling and Learning Workshop.
The initiatives not only provided an opportunity to exchange good practices with each other
but also economic benefits to farmers.