Food and Agricultural Organisation had distributed seeds of Radha-4 and Sabitri varieties to over 8,000 households in Baitadi, Doti and Darchula districts through German aid agency GTZ and Environment Culture, Agriculture, Research Development Society (ECARDS) last year.[break]
The team had representations from Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoAC), Department of Agriculture, FAO, European Union (EU) and local implementing agencies of concerned districts.
“We have arrived at the conclusion that the late delivery of paddy seeds, which were faulty and not appropriate for farms in those districts, was the major reason behind paddy crop failure,” a member of the study team told Republica.
“FAO, GTZ and ECARDS that were involved in providing seeds to the farmers are responsible for this.”
The member also said the implementing agencies also did not consult with the District Agriculture Development Offices (DADOs) of concerned districts for technical support.
With their paddy crop yielding nothing, the affected farmers in those food deficit districts are demanding cash, food and employment as compensation for the loss of their crop.
The team, which conducted field visits in the affected districts from Jan 8- 13, submitted its report to the Crops Development Directorate (CDD) a couple of days ago.
FAO - the UN agricultural agency - has already agreed to provide seeds of vegetables and cereal crops along with necessary chemical fertilizers to the affected farmers for a year free of cost. The European Union Food Facility Project on Sunday endorsed the relief package proposed recently by FAO.
FAO had recently forwarded the proposal for relief package to the MoAC through CDD.
“We have forwarded the proposal for a relief package worth Rs 90 million to MoAC,” said Suraj Pokhrel, director of CDD.
FAO had distributed 150 tons of Radha-4 and Sabitri varieties of paddy seeds to around 20,000 farmers in the three districts. The paddy varieties were planted in around 1500 hectares.
Responding to complaints about the quality of paddy seeds, the government had sent a fact-finding team to the affected districts a couple of months ago. Similarly, a team from FAO headquarters had also visited the districts. The team had complained of non-cooperation from the officials of agriculture development offices of the concerned districts.
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