We have often heard about cars without drivers or self-driving cars. We are also familiar with the Engineers without borders. But farming without farmers sounds very incredible indeed. This harsh reality was exposed by Toni Hagen in a newly written book in view of several efforts made for improvement of agriculture but without the involvement of the farmer. He was a Swiss geologist who came to Nepal in the fifties. This book by Hagen was released amid a calm and quiet function held in the Department of Botany, Central Campus of the Tribhuvan University last week. It was attended by academicians of several disciplines including above all the daughter of Toni Dr. Katrin Hagen along with the Chairman of the Hegan Trust, Prof. Dr. Pramod Kumar Jha. It also contained articles paying tribute to Toni by several writers including the columnist.
Toni Hagen came to Nepal in 1950 when the country had not yet seen the light of democracy. He travelled fourteen hundred Kilometers all around the country gathering information and taking photographs of mostly the geological features of Nepal. He authored a book entitled Nepal which introduced Nepal to the outside world. Nepal was otherwise Naples for commoners and only few connoisseurs recognized it after taking the name of Mount Everest.
In fact, the mythic history of Nepal begins from Kathmandu valley with the arrival of the foreigners into the country. According to the chronicles, Bipashwi and Sikhi Buddha came for meditation in Nepal.
The other luminary to follow was Manjushree who is said to have drained the water of the lake that Kathmandu was by cutting the gorge in Chobhar. Geologists however attribute it to the breach of the natural embankment due to huge water pressure.
The other notable foreigners to visit Nepal were the Chinese travelers. Fa Hein and Huen Tsang came to Lumbini in the fourth and seventh century respectively. Huen Tsang also came to Kathmandu in the Licchavi period. His memoirs provide much valuable information about architecture and culture of Nepal.
In the Malla period, several Christian missionaries visited Nepal in the course of spreading Christianity in the country. One of them, Father Grover, gave a magnifying glass to King Pratap Malla. It is said that when the King saw the armies nearby, he immediately ordered his Prime Minister to prepare for the war. But he realized his mistake after being told that the glass had made them appear near despite being far away in Bhaktapur.
Colonel Kirkpatrick came to Nepal and wrote a book entitled Nepaul in the early nineteenth century. Later, in 1819, Francis Hamilton wrote another book named An account of the Kingdom of Nepal highlighting the tribes as well as flora and fauna of Nepal. Again Royal surgeon, Daniel Wright wrote another book "History of Nepal ''. Both these books provide information about the Nepal of that time. For example, Kathmandu was so dirty then that Wright described it as a dunghill in the middle of latrines. Similarly, H A Oldfield wrote a book known as Sketches of Nipal with beautiful paintings of Nepali monuments.
Toni Hagen entered as yet another actor in this interesting serial. But he is different from his predecessors. He came back time and again to Nepal before his demise in 2003. His daughter Katrin Hagen has established a Trust which highlights the contribution of Toni in addition to carrying out social works in far flung areas such as Bajura and the likes in Nepal.
Toni tirelessly promoted the indigenous techniques in agriculture. He has shown how the disregard of this age-old practice had led to the present problems. In this context, he has made a study of 230 Projects implemented all round the globe in 24 countries with the investment of $2.4 billion. It was found that the projects that made a positive contribution were only 16 percent with the result that 84 percent of the investment went down the drain.
At the end of the study, Toni has made several suggestions. These consist of the need for the use of indigenous knowledge. He is not against the use of modern technologies but he feels that there should be a proper mix of the two. He has batted for the use of organic agriculture development citing its advantages. Moreover, Toni has suggested a green revolution in special circumstances. He has advised for the encouragement, participation and the realization of responsibility on the part of the farmers. He is for banning genetically modified seeds for at least ten years. In the end, he has highlighted the need for good governance and democratic functioning in agricultural activities.
Toni has focused on the need of talking to the farmers. For example, farmers generally construct about a 30 centimeter high mud wall around the fields using stones in the lower areas. Instead in one Soil Erosion Project at Burkina Faso in 1979 with an investment of $120 thousand, these were constructed using 50 centimeter high mud walls without stones with the result that these were washed away by flood. Had the farmers been consulted in the process, the Project would not have been such an utter disaster.
Toni was a geologist turned development worker. But he also had an interest in art and architecture. He has written how he was shocked when he came to Nepal in 1958 for the second time after seeing the disappearance of Shangrila at a fast pace in Kathmandu. He has written how the concrete mania has overtaken the city with the mushrooming of the apartment and houses of the tasteless style against the pleasant backdrop of traditional architecture of Nepal.
Though born in Switzerland, Tony always considered Nepal as his second homeland. In recognition of his unprecedented contribution to Nepal, he was decorated with Birendra Pragya Alankar, one of the prestigious civilian awards of Nepal. He was also honored with Nepal citizenship as a mark of respect for tirelessly working in Nepal.