Reaching the Poor in the Hills of Nepal with New Maize Technological Interventions.through Partnerships and Participatory Approaches
Farmers in the hills of Nepal grow maize as their staple food. Food deficits are chronic problems in this region as maize yields are low because farmers continue to grow low yielding local varieties. Farmers in this region are not aware of new varietal options and/or do not have access to new seeds. One of the objectives of the Hill Maize Research Project (HMRP) is to reach poor farmers in remote areas with new technological interventions in order to improve their food security. This paper presents the experiences and efforts of the HMRP in reaching the poor with new technological options through partners. Partners included Government Organizations (GOs) from the national research and development systems including farmers, International/National Non- governmental Organizations (I/NGOs) and Community- based Organizations (CBOs). More than 1000 farmers in 2003 and 1600 in 2004 across the hills tested more than 17 released and pre-released maize open pollinated varieties (OPVs). Results revealed that ZM-621, Population44c10 (Pop44), Population-45c10 (Pop45) and Manakamana-3 (Maria-3) were consistently superior to local counterparts. Furthermore, farmers liked these OPVs because they have good foliar disease and lodging resistance, stay green longer and produce higher grain yields. Depending on the location, farmers observed 20％～50％ yield gain. Local farmer groups produced about 260 tons and 309 tons of quality seed of farmer-preferred OPVs in 2003 and 2004, respectively. The inclusion of participatory varietal selection (PVS) and community-based seed production (CBSP) approaches has led to improved farmer-researcher interaction, enhancing farmer-to- farmer seed exchange systems and creating awareness of new varietal options. This has significantly improved the adoption of new varieties by farmers. Of the total participants, 50％ were women and 70％ were considered poor. Through partners, the HMRP played a catalytic role in contributing to food security at the household level and in addressing gender and poverty issues.
PVS CBSP Partnership Gender Food security Inclusion Livelihoods
T. P. Tiwari J. Ransom C. Urrea F. Gonzalez G. Ortiz-Ferrara N. P. Rajbhandari K. Adhikari D. P. Sherchan
HMRP/CIMMYT, SARO-Nepal Department of Plant Sciences, North Dakota State University, P. O. Box 5051 Fargo ND 58105-5051, USA Panhandle Research and Extension Center, Universit of Nebraska-Lincoln, 4502 Avenue 1 Scottsbluff, N Rajbhandari, Sustainable Soil Management Project, Helvetas, Nepal, Neeranjan Nepal Agriculture Research Council, Kathmandu, Nepal
国际会议
第九届亚洲玉米大会(the Ninth Asian Regional Maize Workshop)
北京
英文
328-332
2005-09-05（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）