Many small farmers in Nepal face serious hardship because of their limited access to inputs and services of line agencies. Government promotes farmers organizations, but in many cases officials control the organization. The Small Farmer Development Project was launched in 1975 as a pilot action-research project of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations with the aim of encouraging genuine participation by the rural poor in development.

The Agricultural Development Bank of Nepal was selected as the implementing agency. Carefully selected male and female catalysts received training in conscientization and animation techniques, group dynamics, participation and problem solving to guide the small farmers.

The project launched income-generating activities and it addressed social development issues such as literacy, health, nutrition, sanitation and family planning. The project also carried out rural infrastructure development projects such as the construction of irrigation systems and school buildings. Line agency services were sought to provide technical assistance.

The success of the pilot action-research led to the expansion of the project to 31 districts in phase I and to all 75 districts later. Improvements to the model were made at each stage of the expansion. The most outstanding impact was that small farmers became socially and politically empowered in solving problems, once they were organized into small and homogeneous groups.