Author: Administrator

The community based seed production (CBSP) program is one of the most successful interventions of the Hill Maize Research Project (HMRP) Phase IV in Nepal. Through this program, the project has significantly contributed to the increase in maize seed replacement rate, maize productivity, and income of smallholder and resource-poor farmers in the hills of the country. To observe the successes achieved so far, teams from USAID-Nepal, CIMMYT-Mexico, and HMRP visited a community-managed seed company in the Thumpahkar Village of Sindupalchowk district, located about 100 km north-east of Kathmandu, on 12 October 2012. The USAID team comprised of John Stamm (General Dev elopment Office director, USAID-Nepal), Luis Guzman (Feed the Future team leader, USAID-Nepal), Shanker Khagi (South Asia Regional Initiative for Energy country coordinator), and Lindsey Moore (USAID-Bangladesh). CIMMYT’s Thomas Short (Deputy Director General for Corporate Services), Nellooli P. Rajasekharan (International Human Resources Director), G. Ortiz Ferrara (HMRP Team Leader), Nirmal Gadal (HMRP Agronomist), and Dilli KC (HMRP Seed Value Chain and Marketing Expert) were also present, along with about 35 seed growers, including the management team of the company.

The meeting was chaired by Gunda Bahadur Dhami, chairperson of Sindhu-Tuki Seed Production Cooperative Ltd. During a brief presentation, the company’s coordinator D.B. Bhandari summarized the institutional graduation of the farmers’ groups to a cooperative and later to a private seed company. Starting in 2005, the cooperative developed into a private seed company in 2010 with the technical support from HMRP. It currently works with 300 members organized in 14 CBSP groups. Bhandari also discussed the company’s current activities, future plan, operational model, membership policy, marketing activities, and approaches to gender and sustainability.

Stamm acknowledged the project team and congratulated farmers on the impact achieved so far. “USAID-Nepal considers HMRP a very successful project, and your seed company is a model for economic development of rural areas,” he said. Rajasekharan then thanked the HMRP team for organizing the field visit and expressed CIMMYT’s commitment to support the project staff in their work aiming to improve food security among Nepalese maize farmers. Short added: “I echo Raj’s words in congratulating the members of this seed company, but I also take the opportunity to thank the two donors of HMRP, USAID and SDC, for their financial and technical support given to the project.” Ortiz Ferrara stressed that “sustainability is the prime concern of HMRP, and the entire project activities are built on the clearly defined roles and responsibilities of the multiple stakeholders. This small seed company is now operating on its own resources, and this is only one of the 195 CBSP groups coordinated by HMRP in 20 hill districts.” Responding to a question raised by Khagi regarding the competitiveness of improved maize seed, a female maize seed grower said: “The new maize varieties are high yielding, disease and lodging tolerant, have good taste, and the grain can be stored for a longer time.” Dhami followed: “We are just learning to walk and there is still a lot to do to help small farmers in our hill area to achieve food security and increase their income.” He thanked the guests for their valuable time and their continuing collaboration with the recently established seed company. At the end of the discussion, the team observed the seed processing plant, seed store house, and the community seed bank.

Rajasekharan and Short combined the field visit with an interaction meeting with the nationally recruited staff of CIMMYT-Nepal to discuss and clarify administrative issues. They both thanked the staff for their dedication, commitment, and support for CIMMYT activities in Nepal and in South Asia.

The Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) celebrated its 21st Anniversary in Kathmandu on the 7th of May 2012. Chief Guest, Mr. Barsha Man Pun (Minister-designate and representative of Honorable Prime Minister Mr. Baburam Bhattarai), inaugurated the opening ceremony. Other Government authorities such as Dr. Dipendra Bahadur Kshetry (Vice Chairman of the National Planning Commission, NPC), Mr. Nathu Prasad Chaudhary (Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, MoAC), and Dr. Dil Bahadur Gurung (Executive Director of NARC), were also among the high level officials attending the celebration. From CIMMYT-Nepal, G. Ortiz Ferrara (Country Liaison Officer), Arun K. Joshi (Head of Administration) and Nirmal Gadal (HMRP/CIMMYT Agronomist) were invited to attend. The gathering brought more than 275 scientists, development workers and other NARC scientists working in agriculture in Nepal. “The Nepal Government is planning to raise the budget for agriculture significantly in the upcoming national budget plan” Mr. Pun said. “There is also a need to adopt enhanced technology to double agricultural production and attract youth to the sector”, Pun added. He also mentioned that “the Prime Minister and his Government are committed on giving top priority to farming as it is the only way to alleviate poverty and ensure employment to a larger section of society”. Dr. Kshetry’s said that “in the next Government fiscal year, NARC and the MoAC have plans to deploy large number of agricultural scientists and technicians in all the 75 districts in the country to address farming and farmer’s problems”. Dr. Gurung highlighted that “the low seed replacement rate is one of the major factors affecting farm productivity and output. Similarly, around 70% of the farmland in the country is not irrigated and they depend on the mercy of the sky”. On behalf of CIMMYT’s Director General, the Management, and of all the CIMMYT colleagues who have worked in Nepal over the past 27 years, G. Ortiz Ferrara congratulated NARC on its anniversary and thanked the GoN for the strong partnership and for hosting the South Asia regional office in the country. He took the opportunity to brief the audience about the Nepal Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) concept discussed with the Management of NARC by Thomas Lumpkin during his recent visit to Nepal. “The strategic objective of BISA in Nepal is to enable NARC, CIMMYT and its partners to deliver greater impact toward the food security and livelihoods in the country” G. Ortiz Ferrara said. He also highlighted the strong endorsement given to the BISA in India by Honorable Prime Minister Mr. Man Mohan Singh and the GoI. In their closing remarks, Mr. Pun and Dr. Kshetry expressed Nepal’s Government strong interest and unconditional support for a BISA-Nepal. “Nepal is a poor country, but we have a good heart, we fully support this initiative” Dr. Gurung also said in his closing speech. NARC and CIMMYT-Nepal scientists are currently having strategic meetings to develop a proposal and a plan of action to make BISA-Nepal a reality.

Dr. Thomas Lumpkin, Director General of CIMMYT visited Nepal during 1-3 of May 2012. One of the main objectives of his visit was to discuss with NARC and CIMMYT scientists the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) launched last year in India, and the potential for Nepal to follow a similar model in the country. Dr. Lumpkin also had fruitful technical and

administrative discussions with CIMMYT international and national staff based in Kathmandu. Together with several Directors of NARC, including Dr. Tek Bahadur Gurung (Director of Administration and Interim Executive Director of NARC), Dr. B. N. Mahto (Director of Planning and Coordination), and Dr. Neeranjan Adhikari (Director of Crops and Horticulture), he visited three potential sites/locations in Khumaltar (NARC research station located in the outskirts of Kathmandu) where the main administrative building, as well as the training and research facilities, could be based. Dr. Ortiz Ferrara (CIMMYT’s CLO) and Mr. Surath Pradhan (CIMMYT-Nepal Office Manager) also joined the site visit.

“CIMMYT is interested in expanding the crop improvement and crop management systems research and development activities being conducted in collaboration with the MoAC, NARC and all the other partners who have been associated with CIMMYT in Nepal for more than 40 years. We look forward to a Nepal BISA that can enable CIMMYT and its partners to deliver greater impact toward the food security in the country”, said Dr. Lumpkin. On behalf of the ED of NARC, Dr. Tek Bahadur Gurung expressed NARC’s interest and unconditional support to make the Nepal BISA a reality. NARC Management, the CIMMYT CLO and other senior CIMMYT IRS based in Nepal, will soon sit together to develop a strategy and start the process of designing and implementing BISA Nepal. On the second day of his visit, Dr. Lumpkin was invited to deliver a lecture at the Nepal Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) with the topic “Food Security in South Asia: Opportunities and Challenges for Agro-eco-scientists”. More than 50 scientists of NARC and NARI attended the lecture which generated a lot of interest and a lively discussion. Coinciding with the visit to Khumaltar, Dr. Lumpkin was invited to inaugurate a sports event organized by NARC. The ceremony started by him making the first serve in a volley ball tournament. “Not a bad serve for a person who travels more than 200 days a year” his CIMMYT colleagues commented.

On 04 April 2012 CIMMYT received an “Award of Honor” from the Society of Agricultural Scientist of Nepal (SAS-N). The award, in a form of a plaque, was handed over by Mr. Om Prakash Yadav, Chief Guest and Honorable Minister of State for Agriculture and Cooperatives. “This recognition is given to CIMMYT International for the many contributions in maize and wheat research and development in Nepal,” said Yadav.

Receiving the prize on behalf of CIMMYT, Nepal country representative Guillermo Ortiz-Ferrara thanked the Society for the recognition. “On behalf of the director general of CIMMYT, Dr. Thomas Lumpkin, the center’s management, and colleagues who have been based in Nepal and the region for more than 26 years, we thank SAS-N for this great honor,” he said. “I would like to give special thanks to the government of Nepal and the MoAC for hosting CIMMYT’s regional office. Finally, we thank the many government and non-government organizations for their long-standing partnership and collaboration.”

SAS-N is a non-profit professional organization dedicated to agricultural research and development in Nepal. It serves as a shared forum for agricultural scientists and researchers throughout the country and in various agricultural and related institutions. The Society aims to safeguard their professional integrity and improve research standards, thereby fostering economic development through agriculture growth. Some 300 participants in the meeting presented 135 papers on food security, agro-biodiversity, horticulture, livestock, fisheries, nutrition, plant breeding, pathology, crop and soils management, physiology, micro nutrients, irrigation, agro forestry, climate change, and socioeconomics.

In a personal message to Dr. Hira Kaji Manandhar, President of SAS-N, Lumpkin sent his regrets for not being able to attend the event and said: “CIMMYT is very honored by your award. The agriculture research and farmer community of Nepal has been of priority importance to CIMMYT for over 40 years. Many Nepali scientists and staff are and have been part of the CIMMYT team. In recent years we have been expanding our portfolio of development projects in Nepal and are even planning construction of a building, perhaps as Nepal’s part of CIMMYT’s Borlaug Institute for South Asia, near Kathmandu”.

In a message of congratulations to SAS-N, Marianne Bänziger, CIMMYT deputy director general for research and partnerships, said: “We are very honored indeed for CIMMYT to receive this prestigious Award of Honor from the Society of Agricultural Scientists in Nepal. It should be testimony to the extremely fruitful and highly-valued collaboration that we have with scientists and institutions in Nepal for more than two decades. It is a partnership of mutual respect, complementary skills, joint leanings, and successes. We highly appreciate the support, hospitality and friendship that our staff experience, both those that are posted in Nepal as well as when others who visit. Without our collaboration with Nepal, CIMMYT and its programs would be less.

Twenty-one days training course on maize seed production technologies and seed business plan development completed on 16 April 2012. The training was conducted at National Maize Research Program (NMRP), Rampur. This course was jointly organized by the HMRP and NMRP. A total of 31 participants (11 women) participated in this training. The participants were the members of community based seed production (CBSP) groups of HMRP. They will work as community seed promotor in their respective group. Dr. K. B. Koirala, National Coordinator, NMRP and Dr. G. Ortiz-Ferrara, Team Leader HMRP jointly distributed the certificates to all participants.

Four… days annual review and planning meeting of HMRP-IV ended on 16 December 2011. The 108 participants representated the various partners of the project. Dr. G. Ortiz-Ferrara, TL, HMRP presented the objective of the meeting and project highlights. During the meeting Mr. John Stamm, GDO/USAID and Ms. Yamuna Ghale, SPO/SDC jointly launched the the HMRP-IV brochure and the maize folk song cassette prepared by project partners. Similarly, Dr. B. M. Prasanna, Director, Global Maize Program launched the HMRP website. Dr. Dil Bahadur Gurung, ED, Nepal Agricultural Research Council chaired the closing session of the meeting.