Introduction: Double Challenge on the Roof of the World

In Nepal’s high valleys and fertile plains, agriculture is more than just an economic sector; it is the backbone of life. It employs more than two-thirds of the working population and accounts for about a third of the country’s GDP.¹But today, that foundation is under unprecedented pressure. Nepal’s farmers find themselves on the front lines of a dual crisis: rapid climate change and profound socioeconomic upheaval.

The climate crisis here is not an abstract future threat, but a harsh, everyday reality. Rising average temperatures are weakening crops like cotton and vegetables, making them vulnerable to pest infestations.⁴The forecasts are frightening: by 2090 the temperature could rise by

1.8−5.8∘C, and the annual amount of precipitation will decrease by 10-20%.⁵This disrupts normal weather patterns, causing devastating floods and heavy rains, as well as prolonged droughts, which directly impacts food production and water availability.⁶

At the same time, a quiet social revolution known as the “feminization of agriculture” is taking place. Young men are migrating en masse from rural areas to cities or abroad in search of work. As a result, farm management is increasingly being carried out by women, as well as older people and members of lower castes.²These groups have historically had limited access to information, credit and land rights, making them particularly vulnerable to new challenges.²

It is this societal shift that largely determines which innovations will succeed. There is a pressing need for solutions that bypass traditional barriers, are low-cost and low-labor, and can be adopted without specialized training. In response, a new era of smart agriculture is emerging in Nepal. In the face of this dual crisis, a wave of accessible and targeted innovations—from high-tech mobile apps to low-tech but effective soil management techniques—is providing a lifeline for many farmers. This complex interplay between farmers, local start-ups, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and government initiatives is forming a unique blueprint for a more sustainable and resilient agricultural future.⁷

A digital agronomist in every farmer’s pocket

With limited access to agronomic knowledge and an increasingly unpredictable climate, the mobile phone is transforming from a communication tool into a powerful work tool. For Nepalese farmers who have long relied on intuition and outdated methods, this is a revolution.¹¹An entire ecosystem of mobile apps, such as Smart Krishi, IFA Krishi and Nepali Krishi, is emerging in the country, offering farmers up-to-date market prices, weather forecasts and access to expert forums.13But one platform stands out in particular, demonstrating how technology can become the core of a comprehensive support system.

Case: GeoKrishi – an integrated digital platform

GeoKrishi is not just an app, but Nepal’s first fully integrated, data-driven digital agriculture platform.¹⁰Its main goal is to remove financial, technical and cultural barriers by providing farmers with personalized, timely and practical advice.¹⁷The key feature of the platform is geotagging of each registered farm. This allows for precise advice that takes into account the unique microclimatic and soil conditions of a particular site.¹⁷

GeoKrishi’s success lies not so much in the technology itself, but in the support ecosystem built around it that reaches farmers where they are and in a language they understand. The platform doesn’t just offer to download an app and leave the user alone; it builds a multi-layered system that addresses farmers’ real problems, such as low digital literacy, lack of trust in new technologies, and poor connectivity.²⁰This model includes:

• GeoKrishi Farm: An app for individual farmers that provides weather forecasts, market prices, and a unique feature for diagnosing diseases and pests from photos.¹⁷
• GeoKrishi Ext: A tool for agronomists and consultants to track farmers’ progress and provide support to them.¹⁷
• GeoKrishi Enterprise: A web platform for cooperatives and municipalities designed for data analysis, planning and strategic decision-making.¹⁷
• Call center: A three-level support system, where operators answer simple questions at the first level, local experts at the second, and leading agricultural scientists at the third level are involved in solving complex problems.¹⁷

The story of a 30-year-old farmer named Bigan from Madesh province illustrates the impact of this system.¹¹Previously, he had been dealing with unpredictable weather and pests through trial and error, often using pesticides incorrectly. That all changed when he learned about GeoKrishi through a joint programme between the NGO Islamic Relief and the Jan Jagaran Youth Club (JJYC).¹¹“At first I wasn’t sure how the app could help,” admits Biegun, “but it changed everything.” He adds: “When my rice showed signs of illness, I uploaded a photo and within minutes I had a diagnosis and a treatment plan.”¹¹

The results were not only agronomic, but also financial. According to Biegun, thanks to the advice from the app “costs for treating plant and livestock diseases have decreased by approximately 40%”.¹¹This is concrete, measurable evidence of the platform’s economic efficiency.

To ensure sustainability and scalability, GeoKrishi is actively developing partnerships with local farmer cooperatives, municipalities, and even mobile operators to provide subsidized data packages and SMS alerts.¹⁰With support from the GSMA Innovation Fund, more than 145,000 farmers have already joined the platform, demonstrating the viability of this hybrid model that brings together the private sector, government and local communities.¹⁶GeoKrishi thus proves that successful agritech innovation in a developing country is not a product but a comprehensive service, where technology serves only as a channel for delivering much-needed knowledge and support.

Eyes in the Sky: Drones Transform Farm Management

Another technological revolution is taking place in the fields of Nepal, this time in the air. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, are rapidly going from a curiosity to an indispensable tool, offering solutions that seemed like science fiction just a few years ago.²⁵Their main and most popular application is high-precision spraying of fields with pesticides, herbicides and liquid fertilizers.²⁵

The efficiency of drones is astounding and backed up by concrete figures. Firstly, it is a colossal saving of resources. Thanks to the technology of fine spraying (droplet size of about 50 microns compared to 500 microns with manual spraying), drones allow reduce water consumption by 80-90%, A chemical costs – by 25-30%.²⁵Secondly, it is an incredible saving of time and labor. One drone can process one acre (approximately 0.4 hectares) in just 5-7 minutes, while a person can process only 3-4 acres in a whole day.²⁵In conditions of acute labor shortage in rural areas, this becomes a decisive factor.⁹Finally, drones dramatically improve the safety of farmers by eliminating direct contact with hazardous chemicals.²⁵

Table 1: Manual and drone-assisted spraying: a comparative analysis

However, drones have capabilities that go far beyond spraying. They are becoming multi-purpose “eyes in the sky”, performing a wide range of tasks:

• Monitoring and mapping: Drones are used to obtain real-time aerial images, analyze soil, monitor crop health, and even accurately count seedlings.²⁵The SERVIR program, implemented by NASA and the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), has adapted the system
  CropScape, which uses data from drones and satellites to map rice crops, replacing outdated ground-based survey methods.¹²
• Disaster Response and Reforestation: Drones proved invaluable after the 2015 earthquake for quickly assessing damage.²⁹Today they are used to survey the aftermath of landslides and even for innovative “broadcast seeding” of tree seeds to restore forests in watersheds.²⁹

The implementation of this technology is supported by both the state and private sectors. Prime Minister’s Agricultural Modernization Project (PMAMP) actively promotes the use of drones by providing farming groups in target areas such as Chitwan district with an 85% subsidy on their purchase.³¹At the same time, a dynamic ecosystem of local startups is emerging in the country, such as Nepal Flying Labs, Dronepal And Madhukaa Drone Services, which offer a wide range of services, from renting drones for spraying (costing 750-950 Nepali rupees per acre) to comprehensive agronomic surveys.²⁵

Back to the roots, through innovation

Smart farming in Nepal is not just about digital gadgets and drones. Equally important is innovative, climate-resilient practices that combine traditional knowledge with modern science.²These solutions prove that you don’t always need high technology to achieve impressive results. Sometimes the most powerful innovations lie right under your feet – in the soil.

Case: Biofertilizer Revolution from iDE

One of the most striking examples of this approach is the work of the international NGO iDE on the implementation Tricho-vermicompost.⁹This is not just compost, but a high-quality organic fertilizer obtained from manure and plant residues with the help of earthworms. Its key difference is enrichment with beneficial fungus Trichoderma viride, which naturally suppresses soil-borne pathogens that cause plant diseases.⁹

The results of the pilot project, implemented in Surkhet district with the participation of over 2,000 farmers, were impressive:

• Agricultural crop yields increased by 15%.⁹
• More than 68 tons of compost were produced and 22 new jobs were created.⁹

This innovation has proven ideal for women farmers, who form the backbone of Nepal’s rural workforce. Vermicompost production does not require large investments, large areas, or heavy physical labor, making it an ideal home-based microenterprise. Women can manage it while continuing their household responsibilities, gaining new skills, economic independence, and increasing their status within their families and communities.⁹

Moreover, this technology creates a new market. Farmers use only 30-40% of the produced compost for their own needs, and sell the surplus to their neighbors. In conditions of chronic shortage and high cost of chemical fertilizers, the demand for high-quality organic matter is very high.⁹This provides farmers with a stable additional income.

Building on the success of the pilot project, iDE, with support from the Bayer Foundation, plans to scale up the initiative. By 2025, eight community enterprises will be established that will produce 640 tons of vermicompost per year. The program will reach more than 5,000 households, with an expected additional income for farmers will be about 300 US dollars per year from the sale of compost and vegetables grown with its help.⁹

This example clearly demonstrates the dual nature of “affordable” innovations in the Nepalese context. Affordability is not only about low price. The technology must also be accessible in terms of ease of use. A cheap but complicated tool is useless. Successful solutions, such as iDE’s vermicomposting, are designed from the start to be “easy to operate” and “low maintenance.”⁹Similarly, GeoKrishi offers SMS alerts for feature phone owners and conducts face-to-face workshops, recognizing that not everyone has smartphones and digital literacy.²⁴Thus, truly accessible innovation is at the intersection of financial and cognitive simplicity, being deeply adapted to the real life conditions of the end user.

Obstacles to modernization

Despite inspiring success stories, the path to scaling up smart agriculture in Nepal is littered with significant obstacles. Promising pilot projects often face systemic barriers that prevent them from being scaled up across the country.²⁰To soberly assess the situation, it is necessary to analyze these challenges.

Table 2: Key barriers to adoption of agricultural technologies in Nepal

These barriers can be grouped into four main categories:

1. Infrastructure deficit: Weak infrastructure remains a fundamental problem. Limited internet access, which only 65% ​​of the population has, and unstable electricity supply in rural areas undermine the basis for any digital solutions.²²The poor road network complicates logistics, delivery of goods and access of service providers to farmers.²²
2. Financial restrictions: The high cost of technology is the main obstacle for most small farmers.²¹The situation is exacerbated by severe land fragmentation: the average farm size is too small to make investment in expensive equipment such as a tractor or drone economically viable.³⁷Only about 40% of farmers have access to formal credit, and complex loan procedures and collateral requirements force many to turn to informal lenders with high interest rates.²²
3. Social and human factors: Low levels of digital literacy and lack of training make many technologies inaccessible in practice.²⁰There is a healthy skepticism among farmers about innovations, especially if previous experience has been unsuccessful.²¹In addition, many fear that agritech companies may misuse their data, creating a trust deficit.²¹
4. Politics and bureaucracy: Here lies the main paradox. On the one hand, the Nepalese government is the main accelerator innovation by launching ambitious programmes such as PMAMP, which creates agro-industrial “super zones” and provides generous subsidies for the purchase of machinery.³¹On the other hand, the same state system is the main. The bureaucratic system is described as a real “labyrinth”.²⁹For example, to fly a drone legally, you need to obtain permission from 12 different government departments, including several ministries and local authorities.²⁹Inconsistency in laws, for example in the area of ​​foreign investment in IT, creates uncertainty and discourages the private sector.⁴⁶The result is an absurd situation: one agency (PMAMP) can provide a farmer with a subsidy for a drone, while other agencies make its use virtually impossible due to bureaucratic hurdles. This conflict between declared goals and actual practice is one of the most serious obstacles to modernization.

Conclusion: Sowing the seeds of a sustainable future

An analysis of agricultural innovation in Nepal shows that the country is at a turning point. GeoKrishi’s digital ecosystem, resource-efficient drones, and affordable biofertilizers from iDE are not just isolated success stories. They are proof that even in the most challenging climate and socio-economic conditions, targeted and locally adapted innovations can increase yields, reduce costs, and, most importantly, empower the most vulnerable groups, especially women.

But the way forward requires a sober view. Technology is a powerful tool, but it is not a panacea. The success of individual initiatives will not translate into national transformation without the creation of a supportive ecosystem. This requires a coordinated effort by all stakeholders: farmers, the private sector, NGOs and, above all, the state.²⁰

Nepal’s experience shows that key steps along this path should include:

• Harmonization of policies: The “accelerator and brake” paradox needs to be addressed by simplifying and harmonizing regulatory procedures. Creating a “single window” for obtaining permits for the use of agritech such as drones could be a powerful boost for the entire sector.
• Targeted investments in the ecosystem: Funding should be directed not only towards purchasing technology, but also towards creating supporting infrastructure – stable internet, reliable electricity supply, quality roads, as well as large-scale training and digital literacy programs.
• Inclusive financial instruments: It is necessary to develop credit and insurance products specifically designed for small farms, taking into account their specific characteristics and limited ability to provide collateral.

Nepal’s journey of agricultural modernization offers valuable lessons for many developing countries facing similar challenges. Its successes and challenges demonstrate how affordable innovations can be used to combat climate change and ensure food security from the bottom up. The seeds of a more sustainable and prosperous future have been sown. The challenge now is to nurture them carefully to reap a bountiful harvest.

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