The Farmers' Handbook
Below are listed all the individual chapters of the Farmers' Handbook (FHB) - click on each link to view and then download the chapter as you want. See more information about the FHB here.
Note, this is the English translation of the original Nepali version that is available to purchase from HPC and Sunrise Farm in Sita Paila, Kathmandu.
Volume 1 Inside the House (Zone 0)
- importance & sources of nutritious food from local resources
- reasons for health problems & simple hints to overcome them at home
- how to build a fuel efficient, smokeless stove using local resources
5. Hay Box
- make a stove which cooks food without using fuel
Volume 2 Near the House 1 (Zone 1a)
- a simple structure to recycle domestic waste water for use in the garden
- how to recycle waste materials to make good quality compost
- how to make & use a low-cost pit latrine which can then be recycled into a planting pit
- how to make better compost quicker with minimum extra work
- how to grow crops keeping the soil covered to reduce work & erosion
- how to build a highly productive vegetable bed requiring digging only once every 3-4 years
- how to improve local varieties, produce & store market-quality seed
9. Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
- principles & practices of reducing crop losses to pests through use of local materials
- how to make & use effective pest control & nutrient "teas" made from local resources
- how to improve the productivity of local livestock through selection, diet & stall management using locally available materials
12. Beekeeping
- easy improvements to traditional beekeeping to raise production of better quality bee products
- how to build small scale, self maintained & cheap drinking water systems using local skills & materials instead of cement
Volume 3 Near the House 2 (Zone 1b)
- principles & practices to create & maintain a low-input, high output kitchen garden for home vegetable production
- a method of growing many varieties (polyculture) of vegetables together to save space, water & work while producing a continuous supply of food from the kitchen garden
- how to produce onions out of season when a high price can be obtained
- a species list of 18 useful herbs, their cultivation & uses
- how to grow a variety of different plants requiring different techniques for home use
- how to build & manage a nursery for off season vegetables in cold climates
- how to build & maintain a nursery suspended above the ground to produce trees which are better able to survive transplanting
- how to cultivate vegetable varieties which are difficult to transplant using local resources
10. Introduction to Fruit Production
- introducing later booklets about propagating and planting fruit trees, and orchard management
- how to make & manage a home or commercial nursery to produce root stock for grafting/budding of fruit trees
- how to graft improved varieties of fruit at home
- another technique to graft & produce improved fruit trees
- a method of grafting for mango trees which is faster, cheaper & easier than conventional methods, & more suitable for the farmer to produce mangos locally
Volume 4 The Fields (Zone 2/3)
- a technique using certain soil-improving plants grown in fallow periods or alongside traditional crops to increase production with minimal extra inputs
- how to grow comparable yields of summer rice & winter wheat without digging or transplanting, & with reduced compost/fertiliser and weeding
- using trees with field crops to increase diversity of products while insuring soil & water conservation & improvement
- how to plant your orchard to get optimum production from the land in the quickest possible time to obtain a wide range of benefits as well as fruit
- how to plant & manage fruit trees to get most benefit, and produce other crops too
- another way of cultivating fruit trees from your favorite varieties without needing a nursery (best at higher altitudes)
- a way of cultivating fruit trees from your favorite varieties without needing a nursery (best at lower altitudes)
- a simple technique to cultivate this useful species allowing more clumps to be established for much less work
- how to build & maintain an edge which is a fence with multiple other benefits
11. S.R.I. (System of Rice Intensification)
- a method of growing paddy rice with less water, less seed and greater productivity
Volume 5 Forest, Soil, Design and other Topics (Zone 4/5)
- how to create & manage community or private forest for best & sustained benefit
3. Soil Conservation & Improvement
- principles & practices of soil management to protect & build soil with minimum input & maximum use of local resources
- how to make & use an A-frame for use in soil conservation work
- hints to create & manage a revolving village fund to allow members greater access to credit
6. Design
- how to organise all the above on the homestead to raise & diversify production, using the principles of permaculture design
7. Glossary, Practical Literacy & other topics
- a glossary of difficult words; guidelines on use of the FHB for REFLECT-type literacy classes; list of picture acknowledgments; permaculture defined
Posters