Section 2: The Benefits to the People of Nepal
Farming in Nepal
The Nepalese population is more than 70% farmers and the country has a very divest climate which results in a variety of agricultural practices. The three Nepal geographical regions are the Himalayas comprised of mountains in the North-Eastern part of the country with colder temperatures and sandy soils, the Mid Hills region and the Terai region in the South-Western part of the country where there are grass lands with a more tropical temperature (APROSC, 1990). About 11% of the land in Nepal is grasslands, most of which are found in the hills region (Pariyar, 1998). Since Hinduism is the most popular religion, cattle is used mostly for dairy production and labour, not for meat. Water buffalo and goats are also common livestock found on Nepalese farms (Pariyar, 1998). There are many livestock feeds grown in Nepal such as wheat, millet, rice grand and legume forages (Redding et al. 2012). These feeds vary in nutritional value and their averages are demonstrated in Table 2.
Benefits to the Nepalese Farmers
Timothy will be a useful grass to the Nepalese farmers because it will thrive is their moist climate and will be easier to plant than other hay grasses. Nepal is known to have a long monsoon season, with heavy rainfall from June to September (Bhattarai & Vetaas, 2003). This much precipitation will drown out many varieties of grasses for hay, but will be ideal for timothy. Since the grass can be grown during the monsoon season, there will be less stress about storing the grass because that will be done sure the dryer season. A large portion of Nepalese farmers do not have access to the faming technology that we have here in Canada, and there is still a lot of planting done manually. Because of the small seed size of the timothy plant and its shallow seed depth requirement, which is not favorable for machine planting, it will be beneficial to those who have to plant the crop by hand (Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, 2004). The light weight and size of the seed will allow an individual to carry more seeds with them, completing a larger portion of the field in one planting session.
The Nepalese population is more than 70% farmers and the country has a very divest climate which results in a variety of agricultural practices. The three Nepal geographical regions are the Himalayas comprised of mountains in the North-Eastern part of the country with colder temperatures and sandy soils, the Mid Hills region and the Terai region in the South-Western part of the country where there are grass lands with a more tropical temperature (APROSC, 1990). About 11% of the land in Nepal is grasslands, most of which are found in the hills region (Pariyar, 1998). Since Hinduism is the most popular religion, cattle is used mostly for dairy production and labour, not for meat. Water buffalo and goats are also common livestock found on Nepalese farms (Pariyar, 1998). There are many livestock feeds grown in Nepal such as wheat, millet, rice grand and legume forages (Redding et al. 2012). These feeds vary in nutritional value and their averages are demonstrated in Table 2.
Benefits to the Nepalese Farmers
Timothy will be a useful grass to the Nepalese farmers because it will thrive is their moist climate and will be easier to plant than other hay grasses. Nepal is known to have a long monsoon season, with heavy rainfall from June to September (Bhattarai & Vetaas, 2003). This much precipitation will drown out many varieties of grasses for hay, but will be ideal for timothy. Since the grass can be grown during the monsoon season, there will be less stress about storing the grass because that will be done sure the dryer season. A large portion of Nepalese farmers do not have access to the faming technology that we have here in Canada, and there is still a lot of planting done manually. Because of the small seed size of the timothy plant and its shallow seed depth requirement, which is not favorable for machine planting, it will be beneficial to those who have to plant the crop by hand (Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, 2004). The light weight and size of the seed will allow an individual to carry more seeds with them, completing a larger portion of the field in one planting session.