Many smallholder farmers in developing countries such as Nepal have limited access to adequate plant diversity or seeds. This limits them in improving their resilience and response capacity to a number of livelihood problems, including food security.
The international policy framework on plant genetic resources seeks to serve these farmers, but their focus is largely on ex situ conservation and formal breeding, which tends to ignore the fundamental issues of availability and use of crop diversity by smallholders.
Smallholders often have distinct needs for a wider range of diversity adapted to their production niches and risk management strategies. The formal seed sector is not able to provide seeds or other planting materials that meet these diverse needs. There is an urgent need to reinforce diversified seed production, distribution and dissemination mechanisms.
The project aims to reduce the vulnerability of small-scale family farmers through enhanced diversification of seed and clonal material production and distribution systems, supported by revised and re-aligned policies that promote the availability and the adaptive capacity of diverse planting materials in the production system.
Project Details
Countries
Nepal
Province
Working district
Jumla, Kaski, Bara
Municipality
Duration
May 2013- Dec 2016
Partners
Anamolbiu Private Limited, Bioversity International, Nepal Agricultural Research Council
Funded by
Bioversity International, Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation
Household Coverage
Contact Person
Rajeev Dhakal
E-mail: