The Provincial Government structures in Nepal are yet to fully develop and so, the plans to support sustainable agricultural mechanization, which have the potential to benefit millions of smallholder farmers, are underexplored.

With the development of the SRFSI Project, farmers were encouraged to see ambitious plans being developed and implemented to take CASI to the next stages beyond the life of the project, and particularly the collaborative approach being taken by partners, Roadmaps Project came to life.

Roadmaps project (funded by ACIAR and led by CIMMYT) which was focused mainly on Province 1 and Province 2 of Nepal, helped create a platform for the provincial government, partners and stakeholders to discuss, maintaining better coordination between them and thus facilitated to create an enabling environment for sustainable agricultural mechanization.

To bridge the gap between farmers, suppliers, and manufacturers working in agricultural machinery, tools, and equipment within the nation and internationally, the National Agricultural Mechanization exhibition was held in November 2019. The event which was supported by Government bodies had 140 exhibitors comprising NGOs and INGOs, national and international importers, distributors, Chinese and Indian manufacturers, and research and educational institutes, promoting more than 2,000 modern farm equipment machinery, processing technologies, mechanized irrigation, conservation agriculture-based technologies, poultry livestock and dairy technologies.

This platform was well utilized by Roadmaps Project to bring participants from Province 1 and Province 2 together and take a step ahead in creating an enabling environment for sustainable agricultural mechanization in Nepal.

Most recently, realizing a strong need to enhance farm mechanization and provide access to smallholder farmers, the government of Province 2 has set aside funds for the establishment and operation of a Custom Hiring Center (CHC) for the first time. As the initial step of developing protocols for establishing the CHC is taking place, the ACIAR funded Roadmaps Project assisted in connecting the Agriculture Development Directorate (ADD) of Province 2 with Satmile Satish Club of Pathagar (SSCOP) from Coochbehar, West Bengal, India. Starting humbly as a small custom hiring Centre, SSCOP is now a center of excellence for rural entrepreneurship as well as Conservation Agriculture in North Bengal. They are a one-stop-shop for technical support and also a training hub for CA and various associated sectors.

While the Roadmaps Project assisted government and cooperative members in Province 1 with a face-to-face immersion trip to SSCOP before COVID-19, the same has not been possible with Province 2. Despite this, a virtual meeting was arranged to start the information and experience sharing process. The main purpose of this virtual meeting was to share learnings and firsthand experiences from SSCOP regarding the establishment of CHC. The Roadmaps Project created a platform for both parties to discuss and ask questions openly, to help guide the government of Province 2 guide through the process of establishing a CHC.