Established in 2017, Rapti Sonari (Banke District, Lumbini Province) is Nepal’s second-largest rural municipality (67,782 people). It spans 1,042 sq km, much of it within Banke National Park. The economy is 93% agriculture-based, focusing on paddy, maize, wheat, vegetables, and goat farming. Mustard cultivation is declining, and the dairy sector remains weak. Of ten collection centres, only two are partially functional. Smallholder farmers face market access challenges, and the Agriculture Development Strategy needs better implementation.

Formed in 2017, Siyari Municipality (Rupandehi District) covers 66 sq km and has 44,985 residents (2021 census) from diverse ethnic backgrounds. A major fisheries hub, it produces 30% of Nepal’s fish. Declared a fishery Super Zone in 2018-19, it offers subsidies and refrigeration support, but underutilisation, competition, and certification hurdles remain challenges.

Piloting Collaborative Action Plan-led Policy Changes for Agriculture and Fisheries Using Problem-driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA): A Learning Framework for Rapti Sonari (Banke) and Siyari (Rupandehi) Rural Municipalities

This partnership promoted participatory action planning in Rapti Sonari (Banke) and Siyari (Rupandehi) Rural Municipalities using PDIA. Instead of testing policy outcomes, the project focused on how actions were developed, piloting inclusive, adaptive, and sustainable processes with broader impacts for smallholder farmers. The initiative strengthened local capacity to independently create and sustain effective action plans, ensuring long-term adaptability, by developing collaborative action planning for agriculture (Rapti Sonari) and fisheries (Siyari), piloting small cycles of experimentation and learning, and enabling municipalities to lead and monitor these processes over time. The partnership generated some learning to serve as a model for future initiatives elsewhere. The 12-month project had a total budget of £51,921, with CASA providing technical assistance, though only a fraction of this was spent as most activities were dropped due to early closure.

In Rapti Sonari, where private agriculture-based actors remain limited, CASA-supported consultations revealed key challenges faced by farmer groups and cooperatives, including weak operations, biased information flow, and disconnection from municipal policies. As a result, the municipality prioritised strengthening farmer group mobilisation through cooperatives and ensuring more effective linkages with municipal services. Concrete commitments were made to establish efficient information-sharing mechanisms, so farmers remain informed of plans, subsidies, and private sector opportunities, and to closely monitor farmer groups’ registration status to prevent loss of access to municipal support. Importantly, these priorities have been institutionalised in Rapti Sonari’s annual policy and budget, which now includes grants and technical support for commercial farmers, private sector-friendly policies for multi-stakeholder investment, initiatives for MAPs (Medicinal and Aromatic Plants) farming in partnership with community forests, development of local market centres, and operationalisation of cold storage and veterinary hospital facilities.

In Siyari, CASA’s interventions helped the municipality reassess and redesign its subsidy programmes and strengthen its fishery ecosystem. Initial consultations revealed flaws in the subsidy scheme, which was both misused and poorly targeted. Based on CASA’s recommendations, the municipality decided to revise the programme, ensure it reached genuine smallholder farmers, and place stronger emphasis on technical support. Siyari also committed to establishing a water testing facility, hiring a dedicated fishery technician, and expanding fingerling farming by ten bighas (2.5 hectares) in the coming fiscal years. Going further, the municipality embraced a broader vision of developing Siyari as a hub for agriculture and fish-based tourism, guided by the slogan “Adopt agriculture as a professional enterprise, become self-reliant.” These priorities are reflected in Siyari’s annual policy and budget, which emphasise modernisation, commercialisation, and market integration of agriculture, while working toward self-reliance in fish and meat production.

Despite the project’s early closure following the sudden tapering of FCDO funding, these achievements have laid a strong foundation for agricultural transformation in both municipalities. The incorporation of recommendations developed through participatory processes into local policies and budgets ensures that progress will continue beyond the project timeline. Going forward, there is significant potential for development partners, private sector investors, and government actors to build on this foundation, replicate similar participatory action planning approaches in other municipalities, and scale successful interventions.

Updated: August 2025