Micro Hydropower Generation Private Sector Important

By Khilendra Basnyat

NEPAL has a huge potential for hydroelectricity generation. However, only 18 per cent of the country’s population, mostly urban, are enjoying electricity facilities.

Despite the necessity of developing hydropower, Nepal did little for a long time to promote micro hydropower. Obsession with big hydropower projects took away much of the attention that had to go into small hydropower development.

Low Cost

Micro hydroelectric plants can be set up at low costs. Since such plants can be established in a short duration, rural electrification can be done with minimum transmission cost and loss. Such power plants not only help in meeting the increasing demand of power but also help in flood control and in enhancing irrigation facilities.

The establishment of micro hydroelectric plants will illuminate rural homes. It will also assist the people in improving their traditional technology. No doubt, power helps in operating industries. It is natural, therefore, to expect rural people to be interested in establishing cottage and small industries. This will help rural folks in income generation and meeting their daily needs.

The preservation of the environment may be helped through the reduction of pressure on agricultural land and dwindling forests. This is possible through micro-hydro power. It has been estimated that the daily amount of electricity required to sustain the basic living standard, domestic as well as commercial, is about 0.3 kilowatt per day. These can be produced in ‘run-of-the-river’ micro hydroelectric plants. Actually, the micro-hydro-technology is dependable and also suitable for hilly regions, where the majority of the people live without lights. In fact, the existence of abundant water resources is by itself not enough for a country’s economic development. What is essential is their efficient exploitation, which is possible through improved technique.

As micro hydro-electricity holds enormous potential for rural electrification, the government has brought in policies and programmes in this regard. However, they have not been translated into reality.
Some UN agencies and donors are trying to promote and enhance rural electrification. The fifth, sixth and seventh power projects carried out under the rural electrification scheme provided electrification to mostly Tarai and inner Tarai regions of our country through the financial assistance of Asian Development Bank and the government.

Multilateral agencies such as United Nations Capital Development Fund and some friendly countries have provided financial assistance for the on-going micro hydro projects. Under the Rural Energy Development Programme (REDP) jointly launched by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the government, some amount of electricity has been generated in the remote villages of our country.

UNDP started its REDP in rural areas by developing rural energy technology. In the beginning, REDP was launched in just three districts, but it is now operating in more districts. Under REDP, the community owns the micro project and decides the tariff charges. Once the benefit becomes apparent, there is a total social mobilisation and participation. Out of the several districts covered by REDP, most have had electricity. Some people have directly benefited from this facility. It has been expected that with sixty micro hydro-plants 1,000 kilowatt of energy will be generated. Also, about 40 per cent electric power will be added and nearly 8,500 households will be electrified. In regard to the UNDP giving priority to development programmes, REDP has contributed to reducing poverty in project areas. However, the rural poor living in different parts of our country are still facing various kinds of problems.

Although the community based rural electrification programme started as a poverty alleviation and agricultural development programme, it has now become an important civil society movement. The government of Nepal, recognising rural people’s needs, has given facilities for power generation up to 1,000 kw. It is encouraging that the establishments of such hydropower projects by giving soft loans, subsides and tax exemption will help meet the power needs of the rural people to some extent. Some years ago, the government decided to provide a subsidy of 50-74 per cent for the installation of hydropower projects, depending on the remoteness of project sites. Also, there was an exemption of tax on the important of materials necessary for hydroelectricity generation.

Even the Agricultural Development Bank of Nepal is giving soft loans for installing micro hydro-projects. Already several traditional water mills have been upgraded, generating more than 3,000 kilowatt of electricity. In reality, the micro hydroelectricity generation has had positive impact on rural people. What is more, the rural people are also using the energy judiciously and installing power only up to 5 kw as required by a village. It is expected that Nepal would add 50 per cent more power to its capacity through these micro sets.

Although big hydro projects have long gestation period, micro hydro-projects have more capacity and can be evenly distributed regionally. For this reason, recent times, have seen some initiatives across Nepal in micro hydropower generation. In this, context, some hydropower developers have already begun to produce power and sell it to Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA). Nepal has become a trendsetter in setting up micro hydro-plants for electricity generation. Although 82 per cent of the total population goes without electricity, Nepal is considering the possibility of generating micro hydro-electricity from its 6,000 rivers and streams. Actually, the decentralisation of power generation has been the result of joint efforts of the villagers and private players to upgrade the traditional water mills for electricity.

NEA, with the assistance from the government, is carrying out the task of rural electrification till now. Also some rural consumers have been provided with the electricity campaign.

Necessity

Since the amount allocated for hydropower generation is by no means adequate, the participation of private entrepreneurs in micro hydropower generation should be looked at as a necessity. However, the private entrepreneurs will be attracted to micro hydropower only when the infrastructure development programme is given top priority.

Land In Daughter’s Name

By Mohan Bhandary

RAM Narayan Choudhary of Purba Kusaha VDC, Ward No. 7, Sunsari is planning to put his land (6 Bighas) in his two daughters’ names after the programme “Maitighar Gudi Samuha” was implemented in his village. His two daughters are 6 year-old Radhika and 3 year-old Alina.

The programme was initiated in Ward Nos. 3, 4 and 7 of the VDC which has a large settlement of ethnic communities such as Tharu, Mandal, Mushar, etc. After the initiation of the programme, daughters of 30 families have been provided land through three groups. The Mandal family of Ward No. 7 has already transferred the land in their daughters’ names. Sanischara Mandal has distributed his land among his three daughters after being influenced by the programme initiated by Nepal Environment Journalists Group and Environment Support Fund with the objective of making daughters independent since childhood.

According to Dilip Kafle, Assistant Coordinator of Environment Support Fund, tree plantation and vegetable farming is done on the land for income generation and the profit from this is deposited in the daughters’ names. They are also provided skill development training. The dowry system is very rampant especially in the Terai area. Therefore, the programme has especially targeted the ethnic groups of the plains so that the women of these communities can stand on their own feet even if their marriage goes bad.

This programme was not designed by any experts or specialists. It came through discussions among the village people and the credit of this new initiative goes to Prema Kumari Choudhari of Jandol VDC. According to Shiva Kumar Budathoki, President of an NGO called Community and Private Forest Development Center, Prema Kumari Choudhari approached the Community Agriculture Forest Porgramme supported by Churiya Forest Development Project with the concept since she herself was a victim of a bad marriage.

There is discrimination between sons and daughters since childbirth and women become victims especially after marriage. Therefore, if a family thinks about a daughter’s future right from childhood, then she will not have to face the torture that may arise later. This feeling has been generated in each family where the programmes have been initiated. According to Nilima Choudhary, Facilitator of the programme, all the families have cooperated after they understood the concept.

According to Shiva Kumar Budathoki, even if a small plot of land is separated, a total of 55 saplings can be planted out of which if 30 trees survive then a profit of Rs. 10,000 can be made from one tree by the time the daughter will be of marriageable age. The total amount that will be generated through the 30 trees will be Rs. 3,00,000. Profit can also be gained through vegetable and other farming until the trees grow bigger. Forest specialist, Budathoki has been monitoring this programme since he had been involved in Community Forest Agriculture Programme implemented by Churiya Forest Development Project.

Rajkumari Majhi of Purba Kusaha – 4, Sitapur has included her daughter in the group and decided to separate a plot of land for her daughter after she saw the positive impact of the programme.
Sanischara Mandal, who has just transferred his land among his three daughters, mentions that the whole programme is for the benefit of daughters. The parents will have less load of dowry if they start thinking about their daughters since childhood and even if the marriage goes bad, the daughter will be able to initiate some business through the capital.

(Sancharika Samuha)

South Asia Should Focus On Farm

By Bhimsen Thapaliya

AGAINST the reality that agriculture is the South Asian mainstay of livelihood mainstay, there is a dismal revelation that this sector is discouragingly far from priority focus. This sector has not been receiving as much policy attention as it deserves, states the Human Development in South Asia 2002 made public on Thursday.

Priority

The report based on the development experience of five countries of the region, namely Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka tries to give the message that high level of human development cannot be attained unless development priorities focus on the occupation of the majority of the people- both farm and non-farm employment, and where they live- the rural areas.

As terms of trade for the majority of the agricultural exports tumble down further, it becomes important that the rich and prosperous proponents of free trade play a fairer game, particularly in terms of removing hefty subsidies to the capital-intensive agriculture in the North. “The impacts of trade liberalisation have hurt the food security needs of the rural poor,” the report prepared by the Pakistan based Mahbub ul Haq Human Development Centre complains. According to the report, policies for food security have focused on the welfare approach and not on the empowerment of the people.
The report that takes stock of the South Asia development scenario says that the agricultural sector remains sadly neglected at the policy level despite its obvious central role on the livelihood of the majority of the South Asians. Under the policies for globalisation, governments have been framing and implementing policies centred on macroeconomic balance and growth strategies for industrial and service sectors. The agriculture sector has been deriving some indirect benefits from these policies but the difficulties created by unfair internal competition and inequitable domestic policies remain.
Small farmers and the landless poor have been suffering from either the “inappropriate policies or the inequitable application of good policies,” the report states. The emphasis on macroeconomic gains has left the agricultural sector at the mercy of the fiscal targets. The South Asian elite have been found to indulge in rent-seeking activity and thereby maintained inefficient and exploitative social relations with the rural areas.

The report evaluates that there was a stunning performance in the South Asian agricultural productivity. But sadly enough, the nations of the region failed grossly to translate these fruits of the Green Revolution into substantially reducing poverty. “Above all it is about the delink between South Asia’s economic policies and its peoples’ lives,” says the report. The HDR examines how the foundations of livelihood are being blown away by the winds of change, how the women in this region are struggling for survival in the face of decreasing income and opportunities and about the unfulfilled promises of rural development programmes.

Half of the agricultural labour force comprises of women. However, there is a significant economic marginalisation of the women in the rural areas. “The women in South Asia’s rural areas remain hostage to backward, feudal traditions,” the report says. Lack of full empowerment of women has been attributed to the fact that they have little control on assets including land.

Sound economic growth is a prerequisite for human development for it provides the required resources for improving the quality of living through better education, health and other social services. It is also necessary for improving income earning opportunities. But a progressive policy initiative needed to ensure equitable distribution of the welfare gains to all people, class and gender. The Human Development Report carrying the theme of “Agriculture and Human Development” attaches importance to an equitable growth of gross domestic product (GDP) stating that it is not only good for the economy but it improves the wellbeing of all people- poor and rich alike.

There is now strong evidence that the developing countries that have achieved sustained economic growth are generally those where the rate of agricultural growth outpaced population growth. Without expansion and development of the agricultural sector, the urban labour force would not be able to buy food at reasonable price, agro-based industries may face raw material crunch and the vast chunk of rural populace would not find itself in a position to purchase the industrial products, the report says.
“Rapid agricultural growth on the other hand, can stimulate and sustain the pace of industrial growth, setting into motion a process of sustained economic growth,” the report suggests.

The 1960s saw the advent of Green Revolution which introduced high yielding varieties of crops that won a major battle against famine and starvation. The expansion of irrigation networks, use of modern technologies and arrival of agro-supporting institutions led to a sustained increase in agricultural production. The 1980s witnessed impressive crop diversification from cereal to cash crops, horticulture and livestock. But in the 1990s, the problems of land ownership and unequal access to irrigation began to surface.

Now, South Asian agriculture has taken a negative turn. The adverse environmental impacts of the Green Revolution have erased the positive gains made in the past. The rate of population growth has surpassed the population supporting capacity. “There is an increasing feminisation of poverty and gender disparity in rural South Asia,” the report points out.

Need

According to the report, the decade of the 1990s is characterised by rising poverty in South Asia. The number of people living on $ 1 a day increased from 495 million in 1990 to over 530 million at the end of decade. The South Asian share of global absolute poverty accounts for 40 per cent. Against this regional reality, the report recommends increased public and private investment in the rural area. An urgent need for coherent and equitable national and international agricultural policies are also prescribed to help South Asian farmers come out from the clutches of poverty.