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In this study some light is shed on farmers' changing land-use and management practices in two mountain watersheds located in the Western Hills of Nepal. The study is based on a survey of 300 households, group discussion, interviews of key informants, and field observation in project and non-project watersheds conducted from April to September 1999. Confronted with shrinking landholding size, owing to a steadily growing population and scarcity of non-farming employment opportunities, farmers in both watersheds have gradually intensified land use and cultivated new crops to increase farm production and income. They are shifting from cereal crops to livestock husbandry, particularly along the road in the project watershed, and to vegetables and other cash crops in the accessible foothills of the non-project watershed. They have also adopted various structural and biological measures to control soil erosion, landslides, gully expansion and soil nutrient loss in order to maintain or enhance land productivity. The degree of adoption of the structural and biological measures is higher in the project watershed than in the non-project watershed. Contrary to the traditionally held belief of some researchers, population pressure on a finite land resource has brought about positive changes in land-use and management practices. Farmers have innovated and adopted different land management technologies to increase farm production as they are exposed to the risk of food insecurity because of shrinking landholding size and land degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sheds light on changing farmers' land management practices in two mountain watersheds, with and without external assistance, in the western hills of Nepal. Information used in the analysis were obtained through a survey of 300 households, group discussion, key informant interviews, and field observation conducted during April–September 1999. Confronted with ever-decreasing landholding size due to a steadily growing population and scarcity of nonfarming employment opportunities, farmers in both watersheds have increasingly adopted assorted types of structural and biological measures to control soil erosion, landslides, gully expansion, and soil nutrient loss to maintain or even enhance land productivity. Adoption of gully control measures, construction of the retention walls, alley cropping, use of vegetative measures for landslide control, mulching, and use of green manure and chemical fertilizers are found significantly high in the project area due to the provision of technical and financial support, whereas composting is found significantly high in the nonproject area. Different from the traditionally held beliefs, population pressure on a finite land resource has brought positive change in land management. However, the experience from both watersheds indicates that there is limit to the extent that resource poor farmers can respond to land degradation without any external assistance. Required is the arrangement for appropriate polices and support services and facilities enabling farmers to adopt locationally suitable and economically attractive land management technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]