Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN) organized an
observation tour to Salakpur village, Rong Rural Municipality of Ilam on 26 and
27 November 2024 to explore alternative livelihood practices in the rural
municipality. The activity was conducted under the Mai Valley Forest Landscape
Conservation Project. The project is supported by BirdLife International.
A total of 23 participants representing
farmers involved in non-timber forest product farming and animal husbandry,
homestay owners and community forests participated in the observation tour,
where they visited Cardamom (Alaichi) farms, Jaskelo Community Homestay and
Kumar Beekeeping and Training Firm. The observation tour team also visited Rong
Rural Municipality and interacted with the chairman of the rural municipality
Mr. Mani Kumar Syangbo. During the interaction, Mr. Syangbo briefed the
initiative forwarded by the rural municipality to promote agriculture,
conservation and eco-tourism in the area. Mr. Syangbo also highlighted the
importance of birds in nature and mentioned that Rong Rural Municipality have
established a vulture statue in Karsong foot-trail to raise conservation
awareness of the species.
During the visit, the participants learned
about agricultural resilience through cardamom farming after the area saw steep
decline in orange production which used to be the main crop in the area. The
participants also learned about management practices of the Jaskelo Community
Homestay. The observation tour team had very lively interaction with Mr. Kumar
Moktan, a conservation practitioner and beekeeping entrepreneur who shared his
experience in bird and biodiversity conservation and importance of bees in the
environment. He also highlighted the need of using native and local bee species
in the bee-keeping practices. The observation tour motivated the participants
to carry forward conservation and livelihood activities side by side in their
respective areas too.