Based on the findings of research done over two years, Bharatendra Mishra, Executive Director of NARC, said that the new seed varieties are appropriate for generating better yields with the soil, climate and geography of Nepal. Speaking at a workshop in Rampur, Chitwan, he said that NARC was ready to distribute these seed varieties to farmers soon. [break]
"We have already informed the Agriculture Ministry that the new varieties are ready to be introduced and recommended for wider distribution," he said, adding that NARC would give names to the new varieties and distribute them to farmers as soon as it gets the nod from authorities concerned.
Among the four newly developed maize varieties, one is a hybrid. Hitherto, Nepal had developed only one maze hybrid, and named it Gaurav. The workshop also assured that the Manakamana 1, Manakamana 6 and Ganesh 2 varieties of maize cannot be destroyed by pests.
Maize and rice are major food crops in the country. According to experts, the dependency on rice is 46 percent and the maize dependency is 26 percent. Since maize is used for making feed for poultry, it has also been regarded as a cash crop in recent years.
But decline in the production of rice and maize has compelled Nepal to import these crops in recent years. Ways of increasing the production of rice and maize were also discussed during the workshop. According to NARC, the organizer of the event, a total of 91 papers were presented during the workshop which has made a 31-point recommendation to the national agricultural research agency.
Of the major recommendations, the workshop has pushed the government to adopt a policy of discouraging the usage of chemical fertilizers and promoting organic farming for pest control. Experts at the workshop had raised concern at length over the increasing use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides and the impact of this on crop output and on consumers.
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