Recycling of agricultural wastes in Nepal

Nepalese agriculture is still basically traditional and is characterized by small scattered holdings, poor farmers, rain-fed cultivation and unavailability of modern inputs due to poor transportation facilities. For a country like Nepal, where 68% of the area is covered by hilly and mountainous regions, recycling of agricultural wastes is one of the main sources of organic fertilizers which the marginal farmers can afford to produce and use to increase their crop production. Various techniques have been employed in order to improve the quality of these organic fertilizers. Compared with the theoretical need of organic matter and the quantities available through crop residues and livestock manure, the quantity which can be produced by composting of town refuse is very small.