Mountain Livelihoods in Upper Humla, Nepal: An Appraisal of the Contributions of Non Timber Forest Products

Humla is a remote and mountainous district situated in the north-west corner of Nepal, bordering with China. Humlis belong to the Chhetri-Thakuri, and Dalits social groups of the Indo-Aryan language group and to the Lama social group of the Tibeto-Burman language group. The objective of the research is to assess the contribution of NTFPs to the overall livelihood of upper Humla, and to explore ways of how this contribution could further be improved. In Humla, agriculture is the major livelihood activity. Agricultural production, however, is not enough to feed family members. Thus, livelihood is supplemented with trading and employment as off-farm income generation activities. Food deficits were found to differ between the social groups. In order to overcome food deficit, wild edible plants were consumed with daily meals whereas medicinal plants were used for primary health care at household whenever necessary and also for trading to make money. The fallow and unproductive Lek agricultural lands could be used to cultivate economically valuable NTFPs species. In Humla, accessibility of markets is, however, a limiting factor for the trading of NTFPs species.