Leasehold Forestry and Livestock Programme

The programme will cover the middle hills area where a large percentage of the population is poor. It targets poor families in the 22 districts not covered by the ongoing IFAD Western Uplands Poverty Alleviation Project, with particular attention to those living in areas adjacent to degraded forest who cannot secure enough food for their families year round. The overall goal will be to reduce poverty in the area by allocating leasehold forestry plots to poor families to enable them to increase incomes from forest products and livestock. Specifically the programme will work to:

• improve household forage and tree crop production
• improve household production of livestock, especially goats
• provide access to microfinance institutions
• support the government’s capacity to implement leasehold forestry in a gender-sensitive way

The programme builds on the success of the Hills Leasehold Forestry and Forage Development Project in helping set up leasehold forestry groups that will eventually become village finance associations. Women will be hired to mobilize the leasehold groups and train them in group management and village finance.

Source: IFAD

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In this section Project overview Documents Contact information Mr Govinda Prasad Kafley Programme Coordinator Leasehold Forestry and Livestock Programme Department of Forests Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation Babar Mahal Kathmandu, Nepal Tel: +977 14227574, +977 4220303, +977 4221231, +977 4221744 +977 14487680 Fax: +977 14227374 govindakafley@yahoo.com Facts and figures Total cost: US$12.8 million IFAD loan: US$10.5 million IFAD grant: US$1.2 million Duration: 2005-2013 Geographical area: 22 districts of the middle hills area Directly benefiting: 44,300 households  Status: ongoing