Five interventions, one working model
Training, science, field trials, outreach, and machinery — each piece had to work for the others to hold. Open any of the five to see what happened and what it changed.
Results
- 376 farmers trained across 8 municipalities of Rupandehi and Nawalparasi
- 35 participants completed composting training in Mayadevi Rural Municipality
- 25 participants trained in mushroom farming in Kanchan Rural Municipality
- 14 lead farmers trained in composting, Joran preparation, and decomposer use
Impact
- Strengthened local knowledge of residue management and reduced reliance on open burning.
Results
- A locally adaptable decomposer formulated from 25 selected microbial isolates
- Gives farmers without livestock — and so without ready manure — a working alternative
Impact
- Enabled efficient composting of crop residue and better recovery of soil nutrients.
How the decomposer works
Leftover wheat and rice straw — tough, fibrous, and normally burned once the grain is threshed.
Results
- Plots established in Matkolwa and Kanchan Rural Municipality
- Decomposer-based composting compared directly against traditional methods
- Visible improvement in compost quality and soil texture
Impact
- Gave farmers evidence they could see, which encouraged adoption more than instruction alone.
Results
- Posters, brochures, and compost manuals prepared and distributed across project sites
Impact
- Raised awareness of the health and environmental costs of residue burning, supporting longer-term behaviour change.
Results
- A field-based reaper deployed in Rupandehi to manage post-harvest stubble efficiently
Impact
- Cut the time pressure that pushes farmers toward burning, by making residue collection faster.
Turning burnt fields into fertile ground
Every winter, Nepal's Terai fills with smoke as farmers clear wheat and rice straw by burning it. This CREEW project built a microbial alternative — and trained hundreds of farmers to use it instead.
The choice every field faces after harvest
Once the grain is threshed, the straw has to go somewhere. Two roads lead from the same stubble.
Straw goes up in smoke
Farmers without livestock or storage burn residue in the field to clear it quickly for the next planting.
- Thick smoke drifts over villages and roads
- Heat kills the microbes that keep soil alive
- Nutrients that took a season to build are lost in minutes
Why the smoke keeps coming back
Nepal's Terai is the country's grain basket, and every harvest leaves behind huge volumes of wheat and rice straw. Burning it in the open has long been the fastest way to clear a field for replanting — but it fouls the air, strips nutrients from the soil, and kills the beneficial microbes that make land productive over time. This project set out to give farmers a working alternative: a microbial decomposer built for exactly this kind of tough, fibrous residue, backed by hands-on training rather than a leaflet and a promise.
To develop and promote sustainable crop residue management through microbial decomposer technology and capacity building — reducing pollution while rebuilding soil fertility.
- 01
Train farmers in managing lignocellulosic biomass, with composting positioned as the practical alternative to burning.
- 02
Raise awareness of what residue burning actually costs — in air quality, health, and long-term soil condition.
- 03
Build local capacity by identifying and equipping lead farmers to teach their neighbours.
Five interventions, one working model
Training, science, field trials, outreach, and machinery — each piece had to work for the others to hold. Open any of the five to see what happened and what it changed.
Results
- 376 farmers trained across 8 municipalities of Rupandehi and Nawalparasi
- 35 participants completed composting training in Mayadevi Rural Municipality
- 25 participants trained in mushroom farming in Kanchan Rural Municipality
- 14 lead farmers trained in composting, Joran preparation, and decomposer use
Impact
- Strengthened local knowledge of residue management and reduced reliance on open burning.
Results
- A locally adaptable decomposer formulated from 25 selected microbial isolates
- Gives farmers without livestock — and so without ready manure — a working alternative
Impact
- Enabled efficient composting of crop residue and better recovery of soil nutrients.
How the decomposer works
Leftover wheat and rice straw — tough, fibrous, and normally burned once the grain is threshed.
Results
- Plots established in Matkolwa and Kanchan Rural Municipality
- Decomposer-based composting compared directly against traditional methods
- Visible improvement in compost quality and soil texture
Impact
- Gave farmers evidence they could see, which encouraged adoption more than instruction alone.
Results
- Posters, brochures, and compost manuals prepared and distributed across project sites
Impact
- Raised awareness of the health and environmental costs of residue burning, supporting longer-term behaviour change.
Results
- A field-based reaper deployed in Rupandehi to manage post-harvest stubble efficiently
Impact
- Cut the time pressure that pushes farmers toward burning, by making residue collection faster.
Knowledge that travels farmer to farmer
Training works when it doesn't stop at the workshop door. Three simple mechanisms kept it moving.
-
Joran, made the traditional way
Farmers learned to prepare Joran, a local starter culture, using materials already on hand.
-
Labelled drums, left in the village
Storage drums printed with full preparation methods stayed behind as a standing reference.
-
A WhatsApp line to the 14 lead farmers
A dedicated group kept technical guidance and peer troubleshooting going long after the trainings ended.
What changed on the ground
A significant rise in farmers adopting composting over burning
Measurable improvement in soil quality and nutrient retention
Reduced open burning across the target municipalities
Local leadership strengthened through trained lead farmers
A replicable, scalable microbial composting model now established
Despite infrastructural and behavioural challenges, the project achieved measurable gains in composting practice, soil health, and farmer awareness — combining research, local empowerment, and community engagement into a model built to outlast the project itself.
From the project conclusion, Rupandehi & Nawalparasi, 2025
G.P.O. Box: 25563 
