Closing Workshop of VSP-III held

Vegetable Seed Project (VSP) III organized a project closing workshop jointly with two other SDC funded projects on 18th December, 2014 at “The Everest Hotel”. This workshop was jointly organized by Vegetable Seed Project (VSP), Sustainable Soil Management Programme (SSMP) and Hill Maize Research Programme (HMRP). It was organized to inform the stakeholders about the closure of the Swiss supported three projects which have been implemented since 1990s by HELVETAS Swiss Inter-cooperation, CEAPRED and CIMMYT respectively. The event was utilized as an opportunity to share three projects’ impacts, learning and the best practices. The event was participated by project staff, related government and non-government organizations.

The event was chaired by Mr. Jaya Mukunda Khanal, Secretary- Ministry of Agriculture Development (MOAD). Mr. Indra Raj Pandey, TL- VSP welcomed all the participants and briefed about the objective of the workshop. Chairperson of the session inaugurated the event by lighting up the panas. Video clips of the projects were shown to demonstrate achievements of the project in improving food security and livelihoods of poor households of remote areas of Nepal. In a joint presentation, Mr. Nirmal Gadal, Team Leader-HMRP shared the common goal of three projects to improve food security and livelihoods of poor and disadvantaged households (HHs) in remote areas of Nepal by increasing productivity and resiliency of the farming systems. He also highlighted the success of project to develop strong partnerships with public, private, NGOs and local states to create sustainability and impacts.

A short remark was made by a farmer representative from Ramechhap about her success of being leader farmer with the support of SSMP. Mr. Dhurba Raj Pandey, Chairperson of Central Federation of Seed Cooperatives started his remarks with a thankful note to VSP and further requested government, non-government organization and donors to further support the seed sector of the country. VDC Secretary of Ramechhap and  Dailekh appreciated the project’s work and shared the benefits of AFEC respectively. Likewise NGO representative from Ramechhap also presented his remarks. Dr. Hari Krishna Upadhyaya, Executive Chairperson, CEAPRED, Dr. Bharat K. Pokharel, Country Director, HELVETAS Swiss  Inter cooperation,  Nepal, Dr. Arun Kumar Joshi, Country Representative for CIMMYT in Nepal, Ms. Dannielle Knuppel, USAID/Nepal, Mr. Jean-François Cuénod, Head of Cooperation, SDC, Dr. Tek Bahadur Gurung, Officiating ED, NARC, Dr. Yubak Dhoj GC, Director General, DOA, and Mr. Ramesh K.C. Under Secretary, Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (MOFALD) also gave their remarks. Ms. Rudriksha Rai Parajuli, TL, SSMP expressed vote of thanks to all the participants for accepting the invitation for being a part of this workshop. With the appreciative words to the work done by the three projects chairperson for the session, Mr. Jaya Mukunda Khanal gave a closing remark. After the remarks session, participants also observed the exhibition stall set by three projects.