ASSESSING LINK BETWEEN ON FARM AGRO-BIODIVERSITY AND FOOD SELF- SUFFICIENCY IN TWO AGRO-ECOLOGICAL REGIONS OF NEPAL

Biodiversity is more recognized as a critical component of food production and food security and an important component of environment conservation. So, the paper tries to address the key research questions about the factors influencing crop diversity on the farm and are the household with high farm diversity more food secure or not? The study thus aimed to assess the on-farm crop diversity and their relation to food self-sufficiency in two different agro-ecological regions of Nepal, i.e. Tulsipur sub-metropolitan (inner terai) and Sundarbazar municipality (mid-hill). For this, a total of 70 households were randomly selected, 35 from each region, and semi-structured interviews, direct observation, and focus group discussion were employed to collect primary data. And the richness, Shannon–wiener, Simpson index, and food self-sufficiency level of households were assessed. The Shannon Wiener index of vegetables, spices were found to be 3.770 and 3.721 and that of fruits was found 2.772 and 2.607 in the home garden of Tulsipur and Sundarbazar respectively. Food self-sufficiency was achieved among 40% of households in the Tulsipur while the figure of the Sundarbazar was only 28.6%. The size of cultivated area and species richness was found moderately positive correlated. Statistical analysis showed that agro-biodiversity across two regions had less difference and finally, the paper showed that biodiversity level has a direct link to household food self-sufficiency level which helps in reducing food insecurity. Our results, therefore, promote to make effective implementation of regional food security strategies and policies to improve.