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Risk Management by Communal Decision in Trans-Himalayan Farming: Manang Valley in Central Nepal

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Abstract

It is generally assumed that peasants optimize security of food supply rather than maximize profit. One way of securing the survival of the household is to spread risk in farming by extending the planting and harvesting seasons in order to avoid all crops being damaged if unfavorable production conditions should occur. It thus seems peculiar that some Himalayan peasant communities act in the opposite manner by compressing peak agricultural activity into a minimum period, and furthermore that all cultivators simultaneously start planting and harvesting on dates fixed by the village headman in consultation with a lama (Buddhist priest). Rather than suggesting that any single explanation for this practice is the right one, however, this article contends that specific farming system cannot be understood properly unless a combination of subsystems — or facets — are included in the analyses.

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Notes

  1. Khamba was also the name given to Tibetan freedom fighters during the armed opposition against the Chinese occupation in the 1960s, probably derived from a tribe originating in East Tibet. We have, however, not found any connection between Manang village headmen and Tibetan freedom fighters either historically or etymologically.

  2. Khamba corresponds to a thulo manchhe — a ‘big man’ — in Nepali.

  3. Khila in vernacular language, corresponding to the Nepali kul.

  4. The term Gurung is probably derived from Tibetan hor = border and ung = guard.

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Acknowledgements

We are thankful to Professor Ram Chaudary, Professor Hari D. Lekhak, and Professor Vimal Gupta for help with the climate loggers, and to Professor Bhim Subhedi and Associate Professor Indra Manander for facilitating communication with the local farmers. We are also grateful for the exceptionally helpful comments and suggestions from two anonymous reviewers. The research was sponsored by The Norwegian Council for Higher Education Programme for Development Research and Education (NUFU Project ID: PRO 04/2002), and O. R. Vetaas was funded by Norwegian Research Council (project no. 148910/730).

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Correspondence to Ole R. Vetaas.

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Aase, T.H., Vetaas, O.R. Risk Management by Communal Decision in Trans-Himalayan Farming: Manang Valley in Central Nepal. Hum Ecol 35, 453–460 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-006-9057-6

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