Farmland Abandonment—Migration—Wildlife encroachment nexus: Insights of smallholders of the Karnali Basin, Nepal

Mountainous regions of Nepal's Himalaya are greatly affected by farmland abandonment. The increase in farmland abandonment is clear, however, its associated nexus has yet to be explored. To elucidate this important issue, three ecological villages are studied from the Karnali River Basin, Nepal. A questionnaire survey of 169 households was conducted in 2022. Binary logistic regression (BLR) was used to analyze the factors influencing farmland abandonment. Results show that the proportion of farmland abandonment is higher in the Mountain and Hill regions compared to the Tarai. Almost 38% of the total farmland in the Mountain region has been abandoned, with 96.6% of this total classified as Bari land (unirrigated farmland). This study found a close nexus between migration, wildlife encroachment, and farmland abandonment. Higher rates of international labor migration and permanent migration from highland-to-lowland were noticeably triggering farmland abandonment. Almost 25% of the respondents from Tarai migrated from the Mountain and Hill regions. The BLR results indicate that triggering variables from different drivers include loss and damage caused by wildlife encroachment, lack of machinery for farming, long distance to farmland, access to irrigation, increased migration rates and labor shortage, and climate-induced natural disasters (floods, landslides, droughts) play a major role in farmland abandonment. The results of constraints to agriculture indicate that socioeconomic and location variables are the leading constraints compared to institutions and environment, and need to minimize such constraints to agriculture and improve production on a regional basis, which would serve to reduce farmland abandonment within the region. • Up to 38% of farmland has been abandoned in the Mountain region of the Karnali basin. • Internal and international labor migrations both assisted the abandonment process. • Wildlife encroachment is an important triggering variable of farmland abandonment. • Two-thirds of farmers are willing to recultivate their abandoned farmland. • Socioeconomic and location factors are the important agricultural constraints.