Implementing the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture in Nepal: Achievements and Challenges
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Year

November 2018

Description

Although Nepal already depends heavily on other countries for the genetic materials it needs to develop new varieties, continuous genetic erosion will further increase the dependence of farmers on resources from other farmers, both within and outside the country. An effort is needed to analyze the interdependence of Nepal with other countries, identify sources of plant genetic resources both on-farm and in the public domain, and develop policies and laws to increase farmers’ access to those materials. It is timely that Nepal has signed the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), which facilitates the exchange of crop genetic resources under a multilateral system (MLS) of access and benefit-sharing. As a signatory, the country must fulfill a number of obligations. The Ministry of Agricultural Development (MoAD), the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC), Local Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research and Development (LI-BIRD) jointly implemented the project Genetic Resources Policy Initiative (GRPI) between 2003 and 2007 with the support of Bioversity International. A second phase of this project was carried out between 2012 and 2016, and the GRPI 2 project team has done painstaking work to accomplish the planned activities and document results. This book is a testimony to their toil.