COMMON PROPERTY RESOURCES AND RURAL LIVELIHOOD SECURITY: A STUDY OF COMMON PASTURELANDS IN HILLS OF NEPAL
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Date
2013
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Abstract
ABSTRACT
The study analyzed the linkages of common property resources (pastureland) with the rural livelihood
security of people in Rasuwa district of Nepal. A stratified multistage random sampling design was used to select a
sample of 180 respondents from three different climatic zones, viz., temperate (2000-3000 masl), sub-alpine (3000-
4000 masl) and alpine (4000-5000 masl). The selected samples were further classified as users’ and non-users’
depending upon their dependence on common pastureland. The result of the study revealed that 63.33 per cent of
sampled respondents were users and 83.33 per cent were exclusively dependent on agricultural farming. The pasture to
herder ratio was found higher in the temperate zone and lower in sub-alpine and alpine zone indicating that as the
altitude increased the number of herder also increased. A maximum likelihood estimates using Tobit model was used
to determine collective effort for the pastureland management. It was revealed that area of common pastureland, Gini
ratio and income from livestock were positively and significantly whereas, membership to local organization and
quadratic form of Gini ratio were negatively and significantly affected the management of the common pastureland.
The Tobit analysis revealed that probability in the collective effort of an average illiterate farmer having Gini ratio of
0.40 and non-member to local organization with landholding of 0.30 ha has probability of 0.261; which further
decreased to 0.197 with increased landholding (0.60 ha). Further increase in educational level from illiterate to primary
lowered in probability to 0.158. The condition of pastureland in physical term and availability of forage were high in
alpine zone than the other regions and overall condition was found to be fair to good; with highly weed infestation and
unwanted shrubs (56.12 %). The major determinants of the good pastureland condition found using Tobit analysis;
were land holding, land to man ratio, family size, household work force, forage availability index and the status of
respondent being user of the pastureland. The findings explicitly indicated that livestock income contributed 51.89 per
cent to user household income whereas remittance as off-farm income constituted 59.92 per cent of the non-users’
household income. It was found that food availability based on their own production level of wheat, rice and maize)
was deficit in all categories of respondent and climatic zones. Whereas, when potato crop was considered as stable
food, then the food available become sufficient. The analyze of the major determinants for willingness to pay for
betterment of pastureland condition inferred that were cost of stay, management level, and livestock units were found
positively and significantly, and family size and value of resource use negatively and significantly affecting the
willingness to pay of with cost of stay being most important (<0.01) factor for both users and non-users of the
pastureland. It was further investigated that probability of extent for willingness to pay (WTP) for average respondent
in the study area increased with increased in cost of stay, livestock income and family size. The expected amount of
WTP for average respondent in overall situation varied from NRs. 304.53 to 680.00 ha1yr1, whereas, in case of nonuser
it varied from NRs. 216.58 to 362.62 ha1yr1. In case of users it increased from NRs.2163.29 to 2666505.45 ha1yr1
implying thereby that users were highly motivated to pay more than the non-users in the study area. It was revealed
that respondents were willing to pay higher price for the higher quality of pastureland improvement. The findings of
the present study strongly recommend that there should be a separate pastureland policy to bring several activities
related to the pastureland management so that livelihood of the users may be strengthening in future
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Keywords
livestock, biological phenomena, area, land resources, economic resources, economics, land management, marketing, productivity, climate, common property resources (pastureland) ,Nepal