Climate-Resilient Hazelnut Value Chain

The capacity development technical assistance (CDTA) is design to complement ADB's equity investment supporting the expansion plan of Mountain Hazelnut Venture Private Limited (MHV), a company engaged in promoting hazelnut production by smallholder farmers in Bhutan since 2010. The CDTA is proposed to be funded by the Canadian Climate Fund for Private Sector in Asia under the Clean Energy Financing Partnership Facility. The CDTA will target the farmers as primary beneficiaries while the ADB equity investment is mainly focused on ensuring the commercial success of the business.Hazelnut is a climate-resilient crop, as it needs less water than annual crops. MHV will help farmers plant trees on degraded or fallow land, thus contributing to soil retention (reduced risk of landslides) and watershed stability (reduced risk of flooding). Hazelnut, however, is also exposed to climate change. Milder winters lower the number of chill hours accumulated, and are predicted to have a negative effect on hazelnut yields, in addition to the negative impact of water stress.The CDTA will increase farmers' climate resilience at each step of the value chain through (i) improved irrigation and water storage, (ii) integrated pest management, (iii) improved harvest and post-harvest management, (iv) improved access to information through smartphone applications, (v) sharing of best practices among farmers, (vi) introduction of microclimate adaptation strategies, and (vii) research and development into new crop varieties.