Assessment of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) Options in Nepal

This report assesses Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) options in Nepal to address climatic risks and food insecurity. It identifies a pool of 147 potential technologies, prioritizes them based on food security, adaptation, mitigation, and gender and social inclusion (GESI), and uses climate analogue tools to estimate the potential for scaling these interventions across different agro-ecological zones. The report emphasizes that CSA interventions must be location-specific and supported by enabling environments, such as improved credit access and public-private partnerships, to be effective.

• Nepal's agriculture sector is highly vulnerable to climate variability, with smallholder farmers (holding less than 0.5 hectare) making up over 80% of the population. National yields for major cereal crops—rice, wheat, maize, and millet—are less than half of the global average.
• Climatic risks in Nepal vary by region: the western part receives lower annual rainfall than the eastern part, and the Terai region has shown high coefficient of variation (CV) in annual rainfall (20-30) over the last 50 years. Drought probability is high in eastern and western hills/mountains during pre-monsoon, in the central part during monsoon, and in central and eastern Nepal post-monsoon.
• The report identifies significant yield gaps across major crops, with paddy gaps reaching up to 60%, particularly in eastern districts such as Rautahat, Sarlahi, Mohattari, Dhunasha, Siraha, Saptari, Sunsari, and Morang. Maize and millet show high yield gaps across the country, though they are noted as being relatively resilient to climate change.
• A prioritization exercise for CSA options assigned the highest weight to food security (40%), followed by adaptation (30%), GESI (20%), and mitigation (10%). Mitigation received the lowest priority due to Nepal's low national carbon footprint.
• Top-preferred CSA technologies for paddy, wheat, maize, and millet include improved stress-tolerant and short-duration seeds, irrigation management (including solar), site-specific nutrient management (using tools like Leaf Colour Chart and GreenSeeker), and ICT-based agro-advisories.
• Meta-analysis of South Asian data indicates that precision nutrient and water management can significantly increase rice yields (by 83% and 23% respectively) and wheat yields (by 85% and 24% respectively). In Nepal pilot sites, irrigation in rainfed areas increased maize yields by 44.64%.
• Using climate analogue tools, the report estimates that CSA options tested in Nawalparasi are currently suitable for 1,123 thousand hectares of paddy and 299 thousand hectares of wheat. By 2030, the suitable area for these options is expected to increase to 1,197 thousand hectares for paddy and 520 thousand hectares for wheat.
• The report proposes four scaling-up pathways for CSA: a knowledge-transfer approach via extension services, a market-based approach involving the private sector, a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) approach for innovation and transfer, and a community-based Climate-Smart Villages (CSVs) approach.
• Critical enabling environments for scaling CSA include the replacement of flat subsidies with result-oriented schemes, the provision of collateral-free loans for poor farmers, and the integration of CSA into disaster risk management and social safety net programs.

APA

Khatri-Chhetri, A., Poudel, B., & Shirsath, P. B. (n.d.). Assessment of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) Options in Nepal. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Assessment-of-CSA-in-Nepal_CCAFS-LI-BIRD-FINAL.pdf

Chicago

Khatri-Chhetri, Arun, Bikash Poudel, and Paresh B Shirsath. Assessment of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) Options in Nepal. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, n.d. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Assessment-of-CSA-in-Nepal_CCAFS-LI-BIRD-FINAL.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Khatri-Chhetri |first1=Arun |last2=Poudel |first2=Bikash |last3=Shirsath |first3=Paresh B |title=Assessment of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) Options in Nepal |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |url=https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Assessment-of-CSA-in-Nepal_CCAFS-LI-BIRD-FINAL.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{khatrichhetrindassessment, author = {Khatri-Chhetri, Arun and Poudel, Bikash and Shirsath, Paresh B}, title = {{Assessment of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) Options in Nepal}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Assessment-of-CSA-in-Nepal_CCAFS-LI-BIRD-FINAL.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }