On farm conservation of rice biodiversity in Nepal: a simultaneous estimation approach

"This paper presents an empirical case study about farmer management of rice genetic resources in two communities of Nepal, drawing on interdisciplinary, participatory research that involved farmers, rice geneticists, and social scientists. The decision-making process of farm households is modeled and estimated in order to provide information for the design of community-based conservation programs. A bivariate model with sample selection treats the simultaneous process of whether farmers decide to plant landraces or modern varieties, and whether the landraces they choose to plant constitute genetic diversity of interest for future crop improvement. Findings show that the two landrace choices are affected by different social and economic factors. The estimation procedure demonstrates that in certain cases, however, the decision processes are interrelated. Policies to promote the conservation of local rice diversity will need to take both processes into account. Fitted equations are then used to compare the likelihood that households targeted for conservation according to one set of conservation criteria also meet other conservation criteria. Households most likely to plant landraces identified as important for crop improvement also grow richer, more spatially diverse rice varieties. In these communities, few policy trade-offs would result from employing one set of criteria instead of the other." Authors' AbstractLandraces, Crop diversity,

Production, Marketing and Value Chain Mapping of 'Srijana' Tomato Hybrid Seed in Nepal

A tomato variety known as 'Srijana' developed by Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) has been substantially popular among Nepalese farmers and entrepreneurs. To understand the seed value chain of the Srijana hybrid tomato, a survey was conducted in 2014/15 with public research and extension institutions, private seed companies/firms, non-governmental organization and community group including individual farmers, involved in Srijana tomato seed production. The survey covered random selection of 30 agro-vets and 30 farmers in Kathmandu valley, Kavre, Nuwakot, Dolakha and Kaski districts, Nepal where production of Srijana tomato seed is mostly concentrated. A focus group discussion was also conducted with commercial tomato farmers in each of the study districts. The study showed a total production of 293 kg Srijana seed having a value of around 47 million Nepalese Rupees (US $470 thousands) in year 2013/14. Private sector was the dominant actor sharing about 85$ 3,000) profit was estimated through the production of Srijana tomato seed in 0.05 hectares (500 m2) of land. Agro-vets (private sector seed dealers) were the major actors for supplying the seed from the producers to farms and received a higher profit margins. The farmers producing and selling the seed in technical assistance of public agencies received higher producer`s share (66.6%) than farmers producing and selling seed through own group (60%), technical assistance of non-governmental organization (53.3%), and in contract with private seed companies (26.7%). Majority of commercial tomato farmers had complaints on supply of poor quality seed in the market. As a result, there was declining faith on the quality of Srijana tomato seed. Limited access to parental lines and poor availability of skilled human resources were the key constraints to produce the quality Srijana seed. Therefore, it is recommended that there should be a provision of efficient quality control mechanisms, and development of human resources including public private partnerships for maintaining the genetic purity of parental lines and also improving the capacities of seed value chain actors for sustainable Srijana seed production in Nepal

Prospect and potentiality of finger millet in Nepal: Nutritional security and trade perspective

Millet is an important food crop for ensuring food and nutrition security of smallholder farmers and marginalized communities in the hill and mountain of Nepal. The main objectives of the study were to assess prospects and potentiality of millet by analysing the area, production, productivity, and trade for the year 2009-2019.  The study used a combination of exploratory survey and secondary data for assessing the production system, compound growth rate, coefficient of variation (CV), instability index (IIN), and trade specialization index. The results of the study are compiled and the synthesis of the analysis is presented in both tabular and graphic forms. Growth rate analysis showed that the area of millet is declining but the import value, production, and yield were increasing at the rate of 14.62, 0.47, and 0.73 percent per annum respectively. Import and export values and quantity showed higher CV as well as IIN while area, production, and yield showed lower values. The trade specialization index was found as -0.992, which indicates that millet is in the introduction phase. Out of the total millets area, 78% of the area lies in the hill, 19% in the mountain, and only 3% in the terai. The highest area and production can be observed in Bagmati province while the least was observed in province no two. The study implies that there is a need to increase production and productivity to reduce increasing imports and make the country self-reliant in millet production with increased investment in research and development and adequate support from national policies and programs

Geographical indication

Agricultural products are generally associated with their place of production and are influenced by specific local, geographical factors such as climate and soil. A geographical indication (GI) is a sign (or name) used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess unique qualities or a reputation associated with the product of the origin (WIPO 2004). The qualities, characteristics or reputation of the product should be essentially due to the place of origin. GI is an intellectual property that protects the product of the area and ultimately helps to promote conservation of agrobiodiversity on-farm and boost economy of local community. The well-known examples of GIs in South Asia include Darjeeling tea, Basmati rice, Himalayan water, Alphonso and Sindhri mangoes, Bhutanese red rice, Pakistani shu (wind proof woolen fabric) and Ajrak (designs from Sindh), jasmine (Hom Mali) rice. Until now, there is no any GI protected products in Nepal. Government of Nepal has approved the National Intellectual Property Right Policy (2017) which includes Copyrights, Patents, Industrial design, Trademarks, GI, Varietal protection, Trade secrets and Traditional knowledge policy (MoICS 2017). Among these policies, GI gives exclusive right to a region or a landscape (eg village, town, region or country) to use a name for a particular product with certain characteristics that corresponds to their specific location. There are more than 100 agricultural products (Joshi et al 2017) which have already established their reputation representing their GIs. Malla and Shakya (2004) have identified and listed 87 potential products for geographical indication (GI) protection in Nepal. Most of the products possess greater cultural and age-old traditional values. Important indigenous crop landraces and their products linked with particular geography, which should therefore, be protected with GI by developing suitable legislation for their market promotion, on-farm conservation and livelihood enhancement of local communities. For GI promotion, Geo-linked popular crop landraces and their traits need to be found out for their potential trade promotion and value addition

Diversity rich solutions

Every household is diverse and diversity can be observed within household in terms of crops, varieties and landraces, soil type, food preferences and preparation methods, knowledge and practices related with production management of agrobiodiversity and other genetic resources. Farmers are practicing agricultural practices that promotes the use of diversity such as growing mixture of landraces, composting, fertigation. Modern agriculture focuses on developing large scale uniform technology eg use of urea, mono-genotype variety. Such system puts pressure and disturbs the ecological balance causing high risk for crop failure and genetic erosion. Any technological option with greater diversity is less risky, more sustainable and higher adaptability in agriculture. Diversity rich solution is any technology or problem associated solution that considers diversity as an option and address problems with inter and intra level diversity as well as combinations of different components. it also includes multiple technology for a single problem. Some examples are broad genetic base variety, cultivar mixtures, compost (made from different species), biopesticide (made from different species), etc. Diversity rich solution is in practice since 2014 in Nepal with the objective of conserving agrobiodiversity, promoting ecologically oriented sustainable agriculture that also enhances ecosystem services

Good practices for agrobiodiversity management

Native agricultural genetic resources have been generally under-valued, therefore, some initiatives have been taken through Global In-situ agrobiodiversity project joinly implemented by NARC, LI-BIRD and Bioversity International since 1997 in Nepal for conservation and sustainable use of agrobiodiversity on-farm. Global in-situ project (1997-2006) has developed many good practices for agrobiodiversity management which are published in On-farm Management of Agricultural Biodiversity in Nepal: Good Practices 2006 (B Sthapit, P Shrestha and M Upadyay, eds). A good practice is a process or methodology or action that is effective and successful; environmentally, economically and socially sustainable; technically feasible; inherently participatory; replicable and adaptable, that has been proven to work well and produce good results. It is a successful experience tested and validated in achieving its objective. For further widening the scope of good practices in the country, NAGRC, LI-BIRD and Bioversity International have generated, tested and adapted a number of good practices in four sites, Jungu, Dolakha; Ghapanpokhara, Lamjung; Hanku, Jumla; and Chippra, Humla through a project Integrating Traditional Crop Genetic Diversity into Technology: Using a Biodiversity Portfolio Approach to Buffer against Unpredictable Environmental Change in the Nepal Himalayas , commonly called as Local Crop Project (LCP) from 2014 to 2019. Good practices listed here are well tested and adapted by the communtiies in the fields, shown their positive impact, shared and discussed among the relevant stakholders. Project team have tested and validated many good practices, however, we have included 22 good practices that are worth sharing for its dessimination and mainstreaming. These practices, though specially based on eight crops (rice, bean, barley, foxtail millet, proso millet, amaranth and buckwheat), can be widely applicable to other agricultural genetic ressources in different locations, national and globally

Impact of climate change on rice production: an empirical study in Kaski and Nawalparasi, Nepal

This study explores the relationship between climate variables to rice production in Kaski and Nawalparasi district of Nepal. The study was conducted in the year 2016. This study captured the time series data ranging from 1995 to 2014 on rice production, temperature and rainfall of two different districts and analyzed through panel data regression. Regarding primary data collection, a total of 120 sampled households were surveyed by using simple random sampling to understand the perception of farmers to change in climatic parameters using a semi-structured pre-tested questionnaire and Focus Group Discussions. The secondary information was collected from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Department of Hydrology and Meteorology and Centre Bureau of Statistics. The regression model revealed that seasonal rainfall had a linear relation on rice production (p<0.05). Respondents from both districts perceived that temperature, rainfall and hailstone had increased or varied than before. The major problems faced by the farmers of the study area due to climate change were prioritized as drought, flood hailstone, extreme hot and extreme cold. This necessitates the promotion and use of climate-smart technologies for better rice adaptation to climate change

Temporal dynamics of rice production and import in Nepal

Rice is a principal food crop for ensuring national food security and improving the livelihoods of the people in Nepal. To understand and analyse temporal dynamics of rice production and import, a study was carried out by using secondary data during the period from 2009 to 2018. The objectives of the study were to analyses temporal changes and dynamics of rice production and import in Nepal. The study used Compound growth rate and Markov chain analysis to assess the pattern of temporal changes in production and import of rice in Nepal for the last one decade. The synthesis of the analysis is presented in both tabular and graphic forms. The results revealed that Nepal is importing rice in increasing trend and not being able to meet national demands despite some increase in rice production and productivity in the last decade. Imports of rice were found in four harmonized system codes from 18 countries and the value of rice import is mounting in recent years. In addition, Compound growth rate analysis showed that the rice import quantity and value were increasing at the rate of 24.48 and 38.11 percent per annum respectively, while production growth was hovering below less than 2% per annum. The higher growth rate of value than quantity showed that mainly import is concentrated on fine and aromatic rice. Further, the study also reveals the direction of trade using Markov chain analysis, which shows that among selected countries, two countries India and the USA were more stable rice exporters to Nepal while China, Thailand, and Italy were less stable. The study implies that import substitution can be done by increasing productivity with increase use of high yielding hybrids and fine and aromatic rice

Comparative study on technical efficiency of mechanized and traditional rice farm in Nepal

The study was conducted among 274 mechanized and 220 traditional rice farms using multistage sampling technique to assess the technical efficiency in rice production among mechanized and traditional farmers in Jhapa, Sunsari and Bardiya districts.  The Cobb-Douglas functional form of the stochastic production frontier was employed to obtain the technical efficiency in mechanized and traditional rice farms. The overall technical efficiency of the mechanized and traditional rice farm ranged from 40.31 to 92.23 and 31.21 to 85.02%t with the mean technical efficiency of 80.56 and 70.11% respectively. The scope of increasing output by adopting the technology adopted by the best performer was 19.44% in mechanized and 29.89% in traditional rice farm respectively. Majority of the farmers were operating at an efficiency level 70-80% and 60-70% in mechanized and traditional farms respectively. The average technical efficiency of mechanized rice farm was higher than that of traditional rice farm and the difference was significant. There was scope of increasing output through rational use of existing resources in both farm categories. Manures, chemical fertilizers had significant and positive effect to total yield of rice kg/ha. The effect of machine use to total yield of rice was positive and significant. Rice farms adopting machines were more technically efficient compared to traditional rice farm