Copyright © 2019 IJAIR, All right reserved 440 International Journal of Agriculture Innovations and Research Volume 7, Issue 4, ISSN (Online) 2319-1473 Agro-forestry for Enhancing Adaptation of Local Community against Drought in Hilly Region of Nepal Prashant Paudel 1* , Simant Rimal 1 , Pramod Ghimire 1 and Kamana Parajuli 1 1 Faculty of Forestry, Agriculture and Forestry University, Nepal Corresponding author email id: Abstract – Nepal is prone to adverse effects of climate change including droughts, floods, landslide, etc. Vulnerabi- -lity of communities residing in mountainous areas to climatic hazards, mainly drought, has compelled them to modify their livelihood through various approaches like agroforestry. Agroforestry system, regarded as an efficient means to building resilience towards climate stress in recent years, can address food security, climate change vulnerability, along with the adaptation needs of local inhabitants. This research was carried out in Likhu Rural Municipality, ward number 2 (Ramechhap district) to examine the role of agroforestry system in enhancing adaptation during drought and assessing its effectiveness as an adaptation strategy through various Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) tools. More than 90% of respondents believed that trees on farmland helps to improve the quality of soil and water. Similarly, majority farmers (>80%) with trees on their farms mentioned that agroforestry aided them in terms of financial capital by curtailing risk of being in debt. Local community considered agroforestry as an integral part of their adaptive plan during prolong drought period, where trees are mostly grown on terrace raisers, home gardens, etc. Presence of species like Alnus nepalensis, Litsea monepetala, Schima wallichii, Ficus species, etc., and products from them suggests that agroforestry system is appropriate tool to accretion of waning productivity and adaptation against climatic hazards. The results also indicate that agroforestry can be a viable approach to combat climate change, which needs to be reflected in local adaptation plans. Keywords – Adaptive Capacity, Agroforestry System, Climate Change and Resilience. I. INTRODUCTION Climate change is one of the critical global challenges faced by humankind [1] with no exception to communities living in mountainous countries like Nepal [2] and has potentiality to convert probable natural hazards to severe natural disasters [1],[3] such as floods, prolonged drought, crop failures, outbreak of pandemic diseases etc.[4]; which are more frequent throughout last decade [2],[5]. In Nepal, it is predicted that current frequency of hydro- meteorological extreme events such as drought, storms, floods, inundation, landslides, soil erosion is likely to be increased [6] in coming years creating pressure on livelihood of local communities [7]. This small country sees more than 85% of its rainfall during the four monsoon months (June to September) [8]. In recent years, changes in monsoon patterns are conspicuous [9]: especially timing of rainfall, its frequency, duration and intensity [2], [5]. Due to changes in pattern of precipitation, temporal variability of water availability is very high [2], [10] i.e. the problem of excess water during the monsoon and water scarcity during the dry season [9]. Signs of changes in date of onset and retreat of the monsoon as well as the number and frequency of extreme precipitation events [2], [8], [11] are prominent, where intermittent drought like situation during monsoon season is frequent and getting severe every year [5]. Among various hazards and disasters associated to climate change, drought is one of the most complex [12] and least understood natural hazards, affecting more people than any other [13]. Mostly, drought first appears when there is below-average rainfall within normal precipitation pattern [12], [14], [15], which can develop as an extreme climatic disaster and turn into hazardous phenomenon [2], [5] for mountainous communities and water dependent sectors [15]. The social, environmental and economic losses associated with drought are increasing continuously [8], [9], where impacts of droughts are non-structural and rather ancillary [16]. Farmers, depending on rain-fed agriculture system for agriculture, experiences greater level of drought impacts [5], [17] and their livelihood gets highly affected [11]. Rural communities are using various local techniques and knowledge in adapting against adverse impacts of climate stresses like drought, flood, landslides [18]. However, adapted technologies and practices are mostly forest and/ or tree based like bamboo plantation, plantation of mixture of trees and crops, forest protection, bioengineering etc. [6], [19]. Similarly, adaptation strategies in agriculture land have been mostly evolved around changes in species composition, plantation of drought resilient crops or managing water efficiently [7], [10]. Among various farm based adaptation practices agroforestry system includes both agriculture and forest trees in same land that helps in diversification of products [8, 20]. Primary aim of practicing agroforestry system is to meet the present and future requirement of fodder, fuel wood, timbers etc. [17], [21]. But recently, this system has received considerable attention due to the evidence that trees and crops could be managed simultaneously [22] assuring the sustainability of agriculture crops and enhancing resilience of system against extreme climatic hazards [16], [23] especially in mountainous areas. Trees and/ or shrubs on farmland and in landscape may occur as individual stand [24], in rows, as woodlots etc. [25] that can characterize the present forest types before the initiation of agricultural system or associated agriculture crops after clear felling of the area [24], [26]. Depending on the climatic, topographic, environmental and socio-economic setting of the locality [22], [27] and adaptation of the trees species, different types of agroforestry system is developed and their function evolves to a particular ecosystem [26], [28]. Manuscript Processing Details (dd/mm/yyyy): Received: 25/01/2019 | Accepted on: 13/02/2019 | Published: 02/03/2019