Policy issues for mountain agriculture

1. Policies for value-added production:

• Existing policies rarely address the livelihood diversity and vulnerability of mountain people, however, resulting in mountain communities and vulnerable groups having unequal access to opportunities.
• One reason for this is policy-makers’ limited awareness of the importance of mountain region and their people.

2. Provision of goods and services by mountain regions’ positive externalities:

• Mountain provides a wide range of goods and services that are essential for the rest of society, creating interdependencies between upland and lowland areas.
• However, markets and national institutional and policy frameworks for agriculture and rural development often ignore lowlands’ dependency on interlinkage with mountain areas.
• As a result, the cultural diversity and livelihood of mountain communities, the natural resources they steward, and the public goods they provide are undervalued and may gradually diminish.

3. Rural-urban migration:

• Migration can help alleviate pressure on mountain lands and resources and provide opportunities for earning income through employment in urban areas and remittances.
• However, migration also places pressure on urban infrastructure and services.

4. Gender and equity issues :

• Mountain populations tend to have weaker capacities to engage in development and policy processes and are sometimes – internationally or unintentionally – excluded, thus generating or reinforcing inequalities.
• In particular, few policies are sensitive to gender issues, even though women play a significant role.

5. Cultural Heritage:

• Mountain people can capitalize on their cultural heritage to achieve and share in mountain regions by producing handicrafts, maintaining sites and landscapes of interest, and driving other economic value for goods and services that are built on cultural traditions.