Feed the Future Nepal Seed and Fertilizer Project (FtF-NSAFP) – Vegetable Sub-Sector Program
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OJECT LOCATION |
Out of 25 NSAFP districts, program has been implemented only in six districts till now. Province 7 : Baitadi |
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PROFESSIONAL STAFF |
2 |
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OTHER STAFF |
2 |
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NAME OF CLIENT/DONOR |
USAID |
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START DATE (Month/Year) |
08 Dec 2016 |
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COMPLETION DATE (Month/Year) |
31 Mar 2022 |
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APPROX. VALUE OF SERVICES |
USD 295,752 |
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NAME OF ASSOCIATION FIRM, IF ANY: |
CIMMYT, IRRI, NARC |
NAME OF THE FOCAL PERSON AT CEAPRED HEADQUARTER
Mr. Sunil Dhungel, Program Manager
NARRATIVE DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT
The FtF Nepal Seed and Fertilizer project is designed to fully align and support the FtF goal of sustainably reducing global poverty and hunger through inclusive agricultural sector growth. Specific project contributions to FtF outcomes are improving agricultural productivity, expanding markets and trade, increasing investment, increasing employment opportunities, and increasing resilience.
Enabling Nepali farmers to adopt improved crop varieties and modern production technologies are the fundamental aspect of raising productivity and developing greater resilience to biotic and abiotic stresses. Seed systems are invariably complex and typically require the coordinated efforts of many public and private actors spanning policy, breeding, production, distribution, and marketing to achieve and sustain systemic changes in seed system functioning.
Seed vision target of developing 40 hybrid varieties - 20 in vegetables, 10 in maize, and 10 in rice by 2025. To achieve this, the country needs to strengthen the public sector research but also build the capacity of the private seed sector to undertake R&D for breeding new varieties and hybrids for which ten of the leading seed companies/entrepreneurs having different seed business covering 25 districts of 4 development regions are the partner agencies in multi-location trials.
The vegetable sector has significant contribution in the AGDP of the country 14.92% (MoAD 2015). At present, the area, production and productivity are 280806.7ha. 3819809.1 MT and 13.6 MT/ha. (VDD (072/73). Despite the high potential of this sector to benefit the Nepalese farmers, this sector is however; constrained by availability of high quality vegetable seeds, best management practices and timely technical support. Demand of improved seeds especially hybrid is met through the import .The research on vegetable seed production especially on hybrid seed is very much limited with limited seed production capacity and almost non-existence of R&D in the private sector business. The Rapid assessment survey results and information collected from different stakeholders (NSAFP, Sept 2017) revealed that even in the identified commercial vegetable production pockets, production is not planned according to market demand but on ad-hoc basis. There are knowledge and skill gaps among farmers and market players. Timely technical support is lacking. The over and under use of chemical fertilizers has also been observed. The relation between producers and other markets players was also observed to be less conducive.
NSAFP being implemented by a consortium of partners, with International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) having the overall responsibility for coordination and International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) having responsibility for rice; CIMMYT for maize, Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) for lentil and Centre for Environmental and Agricultural Policy Research, Extension and Development (CEAPRED) for vegetables (cauliflower, tomato and onion).
Objective of the Project (Vegetables):
Increase Production and Productivity of the targeted vegetable crops: Cauliflower, Tomato and Onion
Increase vegetable based income through increased market access,
Create greater opportunities for small business particularly for service providers in the vegetable and vegetable seed sub-sector
