Neglected Soil in Nepal

The rays of the sun turned golden in the evening this past March; yielding a panoramic view of the sky and treeline behind Asramiya Mahato. She was busy picking weeds from her recently planted paddy field. Nearby, water flowed across the green field from a deep bore well. From a distance, it seemed like Mahato was delicately tending to each patch of paddy seedlings. “These planted paddies need care and nurturing,” she said.

After finishing her household chores, she runs out to her farm daily. “Without coming here and making sure everything is okay with my plants, I can’t eat,” she said while carefully nurturing the roots of the paddy seedlings she planted about a month ago. “This soil gives us food, and I feel like I have a responsibility to think about it every day.”

At 62 years old, Mahato shared another joy—watching her four-year-old grandson play with mud and soil. “He loves to come here and ‘help’ me, and he says, ‘This is my land!’”

Mahato, who grew up witnessing many changes in local agricultural practices, reflected, “I know we are not taking care of our soil, which feeds us and gives us life, as well as we take care of ourselves. But seeing another generation growing up connected to this very ground gives me a sense of calm, knowing our soil will be cared for even after I am gone.”

To properly care for the earth, farmers like Mahato need to be aware of the status of their land, and regular testing is essential for this. But, Nepal has only 20 soil and fertility testing laboratories across central, provincial, and university levels—most of which are not easily accessible to farmers.

Dr. Shree Prashad Vista, Senior Soil Scientist at the National Soil Science Research Center (NSSRC), acknowledged, “We have to accept that these centers are mostly inaccessible to the general public.” NSSRC is a central-level research facility under the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) dedicated to soil health and management. However, the center faces significant challenges due to limited funding, manpower and expertise. “Here at the Center, we have only nine scientists, yet we are responsible for the entire country,” Dr. Vista explained.

Nepal’s Agricultural Census 2021, published in 2023, highlights a concerning trend: only 3% of farmers conduct soil tests to assess the condition of their farmland. This is not due to a lack of interest but rather limited access to testing centers across the country.

Even though she hasn’t tested her soil, Mahato nurtures her fields with the same dedication daily. At the same time she said “this land will be exploited even more in coming years.” 

Neglected soil

The story is the same for Ang Pashang Sherpa in Khumjung village, in the Mt. Everest region of eastern Nepal, far from the flat lands of Meghauli, Chitwan.

In early May of this year, there was a drizzle in Khumjung. Ang Pashang, 69-years-old, was walking with her friend, carrying buckwheat flour they had ground at a nearby watermill. “Finally, it’s raining!” Ang Pashang exclaimed to her friend. As they walked home, they discussed how, in recent years, the lack of sufficient snowfall and timely rainfall had affected their agricultural practices and productivity.

Despite Nepal ratifying the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) 27 years ago and committing itself to land degradation neutrality by 2030, efforts to prioritize soil health and combat land degradation remain insufficient.

Globally, soil degradation is a major issue. According to a 2022 United Nations report, up to 40% of all soils worldwide are moderately or severely degraded. If harmful practices like intensive cultivation, overgrazing, deforestation, urbanization and excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides continue, 90% of the world's soils could be degraded by 2050.

“Soil is like us—it’s our mother—it feeds us and gives us shelter,” Ang Pashang expressed with gratitude. “But the changing weather patterns are impacting our lifeline, and we’re not caring for it the way it has cared for us over the years.”

She compared herself to the soil, saying, “I am a mother, a grandmother, and if I get sick or need care, my children take me to the hospital. I’ve visited hospitals in Kathmandu for better treatment. But our mother," she looks toward the farm fields, "never gets that chance.”

Ang Pashang continued, “If there was a hospital for soil nearby, I would check its health regularly. I can feel it changing and in need of extra care, but I don’t know how to find out what’s really going on with it.”

In Meghauli, Mahato uses chemical fertilizers, but in Khumjung, Ang Pashang relies exclusively on compost. Yet, they share the same concern; their source of life—the soil—is going through a difficult time, and they don’t have access to soil testing centers. 

Soil centers in crisis

While the need is growing, institutes like the NSSRC are struggling. “We don’t have enough manpower, and we don’t have the budget either,” Dr. Vista said. For the fiscal year 2024-25, the NSSRC received only 800,000 Nepali rupees (approximately 6,000 USD) for soil research. This limited funding and the fact that there are only a few soil testing centers available nationwide shows the significant gap between commitments and support to maintain soil health from the government.

Soil scientists says that soil fertility and productivity are severely impacted in areas where food production is crucial to feeding most of the country’s population.

Dr. Vista further explained, citing NSSRC’s soil map, “The Terai-lowland region in southern Nepal, including the Madhesh province, has unhealthy soil for crops, while the Karnali province, where food security is always a concern, has more fertile soil compared to other parts of the country.” 

Over the years, the use of compost fertilizer has declined, while dependence on chemical fertilizers and pesticides has increased, affecting soil health. Dr. Vista added: “Overuse of land is now almost certain in most regions, and changing weather patterns are also impacting the quality of our soil, ultimately affecting soil productivity.”

His assessment from a scientific perspective reflects concerns shared by farmers like Mahato and Ang Pashang. In Chitwan, Mahato uses chemical fertilizers but without proper consultation. “Without chemical fertilizer, crop production is impossible,” she says. In the mountain region like Khumjung, many farmers only use compost but changing snowfall patterns have affected productivity. Recent flash floods induced by heavy rainfall within a brief period are examples of how these extreme events cause losses to arable land and fertile soil in Nepal’s hills and lowlands. During the last week of September, Nepal witnessed one of the worst such events in recent decades. They claimed more than 220 people’s live—there is no estimate of losses of agricultural land.

However, there is no dedicated study to how changing weather patterns have impacted soil in these regions of Nepal, or how farmers like Ang Pashang can improve soil quality.

The southern belt of the country is grappling with land fragmentation and extensive degradation in soil health. The main reasons for this include poor soil management and the overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Meanwhile, the Himalayan region faces an increasing threat of topsoil loss due to flash floods and debris flow, exacerbating the degradation of agricultural land and posing a threat to food security.

But most of the soil testing centers are in the southern belt and are not able to adequately serve that part of the country. The hills and mountain regions are almost completely out of reach from extension workers in the area of soil research. Out of 20 soil labs, at least 12 are in the Terai region, while the rest are in the hills and mid-hills regions.

Apart from the NSSRC at the central level, there is an agency under the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development—Central Agricultural Laboratory (CAL)—which runs mobile soil testing vans.

Ramnath Adhikari, Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development, is aware of the struggles and importance of soil testing. “I know the situation because my background is also connected to farming, but we are trying to make testing facilities accessible to farmers as much as possible,” Adhikari said. “It’s true that soil is not prioritized as it should be, and we are definitely not taking care of soils. But I am committed to increasing the budget for soil research and testing in the coming fiscal year.”

He argues that farmers also need to be careful and aware of the possible ways to care for their land.

Effects on the ground

Despite limited resources, some soil monitoring has recently been conducted by the national lab, and the results are concerning. Area soil is losing organic matter, with more than 66% of it being classified as overly acidic; overall nutrient levels, especially in the southern belt, are low.

In February 2021, the government of Nepal launched a digital soil map that provides a localized overview of soil conditions, which highlights degradation. For instance, naturally occurring zinc, which is essential for plant growth and development, is deficient in much of Nepal's southern belt "food basket," as well as its mid-hills.

Potassium, another key nutrient that supports plant growth and reproduction, is also depleted, particularly in the Terai region and some parts of the hill and mountain areas. 

Even though the recent UN report on soil doesn’t specifically address Nepal, it does provide a global perspective. A more Nepal-specific report,  published by Tribhuvan University in 2023, suggests that one of the main causes of soil degradation in Nepal is erosion, estimating the soil erosion rate at 25 tons per hectare per year—the equivalent of a freight train of mostly topsoil lost on one hectare a year.

Dr. Yamuna Ghale, an advocate for soil management and food security, says that soil degradation is a pressing issue for Nepal, one that will affect future generations. “The government is not taking soil management seriously, and there is no dedicated research or documentation,” Ghale said, “A small portion of land is arable, and we are losing it without paying attention.” According to World Bank data, only 14.75% of Nepal’s land is arable.

Dr. Vista agrees with Ghale’s concerns, “We are not taking this issue seriously. Every year we are losing productive soil, and we are merely watching it happen. We need to document the changes and expand access to soil testing facilities.”

However, neither farmers like Asramiya Mahato from the plains of Terai and Ang Pashang Sherpa from the mountains have access to testing centers nor are familiar with the “health status” of their earth.

“I am grateful to this soil for allowing me to cultivate and feed my family, but I am saddened that I cannot check its ‘health’ the way my children check mine,” Ang Pashang said, gazing at her recently planted potato field in Khumjung. 

This story was produced with support from Internews’ Earth Journalism Network for the "Ground Truths" special report and was lightly edited for length and clarity. The original story can be found in Nepali here.

Banner: Plowing, a crucial part of farming, has shifted in the last decade in Nepal, with the Terai region now relying mostly on heavy machinery / Credit: tanka dhakal.