The Promoting Resilience and Enterprise Development through Local Resource Utilisation in Nepal (PRERNA) project, funded by the Bayer Cares Foundation, was a Social Innovation award initiative. This funding supported projects that promoted health and well-being, enhanced education, facilitated scientific research and knowledge sharing, improved social inclusion for marginalized groups, and addressed environmental challenges while encouraging sustainable practices. The Bayer SIP-PRERNA project operated in the Madi and Machhapuchhre Rural Municipalities of Kaski District in Gandaki Province.

Smallholder farmers in Nepal faced significant challenges due to limited access to agronomic knowledge and resource-efficient inputs and technologies, which worsened poverty and food insecurity. Also, the demand-supply gap for inorganic fertilisers created a strong market for organically produced compost. In response, the project planned to produce and use Tricho vermicompost as a new fertiliser solution, which enhanced the well-being of smallholder farmers by increasing agricultural productivity and income opportunities. The project aimed to reduce the use of chemical pesticides and fertilisers while sustainably improving food security and dietary quality through better access to safe vegetables.

The key achievements of the project include:

• Establishment of community-led Tricho-vermicompost (TVC) enterprises (5 cooperatives led TVC enterprises and one community forest user group-based forest enterprise.
• Development of TVC enterprise business plans (6 Business Plans), support to farmers involved in the production of Tricho-vermicompost (225 HHs).
• Introduction of Tricho-vermicompost as an alternative bio-fertilizer for sustainable agriculture (3696 HHs).
• Capacity building of lead farmers as community business facilitators (CBFs) (18 CBFs).
• Support in the adoption of climate-resilient and nutrition-sensitive agriculture practices (225 HHs).
• Strengthening of beneficiary cooperatives on aspects of financial management, governance, and marketing of local production.
• The project intervention led to the production of 182 Mt of TVC.
• The average income of the HHs increased by NPR 35,000 through TVC production.
• Increased access to quality bio-fertilizers resulted in increased farm productivity.
• Established market linkage between TVC enterprise and agriculture input supply enterprises for easy marketing of TVC.

Following the programme’s initiation, the local Municipalities (Madi and Machhapuchhre) allocated a proportion of their budget to support the TVC enterprises.