Nepali-Led Innovation Shows Promise for Global Food Security: Local Research Team Drives Climate-Smart Solution

By Krishna Sapkota, Prabin Paudel

A locally-led initiative in Nepal is demonstrating how indigenous knowledge, youth engagement, and appropriate technology can combine to address global food security challenges. The Forum for Rural Welfare and Agricultural Reform for Development (FORWARD) Nepal, through support from the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Horticulture, is spearheading research on a $200 solar drying technology that could transform postharvest handling while creating new economic opportunities for smallholder farmers, particularly women and youth.

Local Leadership Driving Innovation

The project exemplifies USAID's commitment to country-led development. FORWARD Nepal's research team is leading all aspects of the Chimney Solar Dryer testing through the Empowering Youth Entrepreneurs through Appropriate Horticultural Interventions in Nepal (YUVA) Project, led by Principal Investigator (PI) Rishikesh Dhakal and Co-PI Sharmila Pun from Welthungerhilfe. The initiative strategically engages Nepal's next generation of agricultural leaders, including graduate student, Mr. Sushil Dhungana, from the Agriculture and Forestry University, Nepal, who has joined the research team to strengthen local capacity in horticultural research.

Building on Indigenous Knowledge for Climate-Smart Solutions

The project demonstrates how traditional practices can be enhanced through climate-smart innovations. For centuries, Nepali communities—particularly women—have preserved vegetables through traditional drying methods, creating foods such as:

• Gundruk: Fermented and dried broad leaf mustard
• Sinki: Dried radish leaves
• Dhajara: Dried radish slices

While traditional drying methods–involving tarpaulin in the sun–have sustained communities for generations, they can leave food vulnerable to contamination, and at times, spoilage following unexpected rainfall. Following this Horticulture Innovation Lab step-by-step manual for easy replication, the team constructed a Chimney Solar Dryer building on this indigenous knowledge while addressing limitations through improved design features: 

• Heated airflow to accelerate drying time
• A protective plastic cover to prevent contamination
• Local materials costing approximately $200
• Simple construction requiring six person-days of labor

Creating Economic Opportunities for Women and Youth

The innovation shows particular promise for women entrepreneurs and youth-led enterprises. During periods of market glut, when farmers typically must either sell their produce at severe losses or dispose of it entirely, the solar dryer offers an alternative: creating shelf-stable, value-added products that can be stored and sold when market conditions improve.

Market Systems Approach

FORWARD Nepal is taking a comprehensive market systems approach by:

• Constructing nine dryers across three districts, namely Arghakhanchi, Dang and Kapilvastu to study both technical efficiency and market potential
• Exploring opportunities for local manufacturing, as all materials are available within Nepal
• Creating new value chains for dried products
• Building capacity of local entrepreneurs to manufacture, distribute, and maintain the dryers

Initial testing has demonstrated encouraging results, particularly with radish and bitter gourd maintaining excellent visual and physical quality. The research team is now optimizing the process for tomatoes—addressing a critical market gap, as tomatoes face some of the most severe postharvest losses in Nepal.

"Small innovations and the adoption of best practices go a long way to ensure food and nutrition security in rural areas of Nepal while at the same time open avenues for new categories of marketable, value-added products," notes the FORWARD team. Their work exemplifies how locally-led innovation can address Feed the Future priorities including climate adaptation, market systems development, and women's economic empowerment.

As the project team tackles these challenges, they remain inspired by the words of Molière, which they cite as their guiding principle: "The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it."

This research is supported by the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Horticulture, with Regional Hub Manager Krishna Sapkota providing local coordination through the South Asia Regional Hub, based at FORWARD Nepal.