|
April 20, 2007
Source:
CropBiotech Update
Ten years after the introduction
of a rice breeding project in Begnas, Nepal, Nepali farmers are
growing their own rice and successfully improving local
varieties by cross-breeding. The global project, coordinated by
the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI, now
known as Bioversity International), aims to help farmers find
ways to conserve local varieties of crops in the face of a
global trend of relying increasingly on “modern” varieties bred
to survive in diverse growing conditions.
Nepali farmers were able to develop a new variety of Pokhareli
Jethobudho rice, a local variety prized for its soft texture and
unique aroma and taste. However, it has problems with “lodging”
(falling over) and is susceptible to neck blast disease. By
selective breeding, six lines of Jethobudho were chosen for
their outstanding qualities. These lines will now become the
basis of all future Jethobudho grown in the area.
ARTICLE FROM
THE INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
RESEARCH CENTER
Source:
http://www.idrc.ca/reports/ev-110870-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html.
Agro-biodiversity in Nepal:
Wise investment
By Marty Logan
Teasing voices call to her from beyond camera range, but with
one hand on her hip and another on a head-high rice plant,
Saraswati Adhikari strikes a confident pose for a photographer.
She has reason to be proud: 16 times the Nepali farmer and her
husband Surya Nath have successfully improved local varieties of
rice by cross-breeding, in the process helping to conserve
agricultural biodiversity.
“I knew something about biodiversity conservation because I was
trained in permaculture, but I didn’t know how to enhance local
plant species and varieties,” says Surya Nath, who has farmed
organically for more than 20 years on a scattering of small
plots in the village of Begnas, located in the hills north of
the city of Pokhara in West Nepal.
Almost a decade ago, Surya Nath heard that researchers were in
the area setting up a project to examine how farmers grew six
crops: rice, finger millet, taro, sponge gourd, pigeon pea, and
cucumber. He approached them with a notion of crossing domestic
rice with a wild variety. With their advice he embarked on the
task, but “my vision was a bit weak and my hand was shaky and I
worried that I would fail. So I taught my wife the practical
aspects of crossing varieties.”
Today, that project has since ended, but its lessons continue to
guide the Adhikaris and other Begnas farmers, who meet regularly
to discuss the performance of their crops. And when they decide
that a particular line could be improved by cross-breeding, they
ask Saraswati to take out her scalpel and get to work.
Exotic versus local varieties
The Pokhara-based non-governmental organization Local
Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research and Development (LI-BIRD)
introduced the project in Begnas nearly a decade ago. Begnas was
one of two sites in Nepal chosen for a global project
coordinated by IPGRI — the International Plant Genetic Resources
Institute (now known as Bioversity International). Nepal’s
National Agricultural Research Council (NARC) was a national
project partner; funding was provided by Canada’s International
Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the governments of
Switzerland and the Netherlands. The project’s aim was to help
farmers find ways to conserve local varieties of crops, which
had evolved in very specific ecosystems, in the face of a global
trend of relying increasingly on “modern” varieties bred to
survive in diverse growing conditions.
Nepal is still largely agrarian, with about 80 percent of the
population of 27 million working in agriculture. Rice is the
staple food.
When they first heard about the project, government scientists
were skeptical that crops could be improved by focusing on local
varieties (also known as landraces) rather than “exotic”
varieties, says M.P. Upadhyay, NARC’s National Project
Coordinator.
“Until now we’ve been introducing improvements from outside. But
now that the project has ended, we are saying, ‘we can also
develop local varieties that have traits that we know farmers
like’… It will have a huge psychological and scientific
benefit,” Upadhyay says.
“The basics (of agro-biodiversity) are local varieties and local
knowledge. But we had forgotten this and focused on scientific
resources. Now we’re going back to the beginning,” adds the
scientist.
Reality is in farmers’ fields
According to IDRC Senior Program Specialist Liz Fajber, “Working
together collaboratively with farmers and recognizing their
knowledge is still a paradigm shift for many scientists. The
need to focus on farmer priorities for research, and to work
with them — both women and men — in the fields to develop new
varieties needs to be the focus as opposed to lab or ‘on
station’ research.”
Earlier IDRC-supported research was also based on collaborative
research and development between farmers and scientists, a
process known as “participatory plant breeding (PPB)”, adds
Fajber. So when LI-BIRD, IPGRI, and NARC approached IDRC to
participate, “it fit well with our overall priorities.”
In the village of Begnas, researchers identified 69 rice
varieties, some grown over large areas by most farmers but the
majority cultivated in small areas for household use. Sixty-four
local lines occupied two-thirds of the total rice-growing area.
At the Bara District site, located south of Kathmandu, 53
varieties were grown — 42 of them landraces — but modern
varieties filled 84 percent of the rice fields, reflecting
Bara’s proximity to markets that supply seed, according to
Upadhyay.
Over nine years, the project tallied many accomplishments:
Farmers established crop registers to catalogue their
communities’ knowledge about local varieties. Using the “Four
Cell Analysis,” an analytical tool created for the project,
farmers were able to determine if local lines were at risk of
extinction and how they might improve a particular variety by
cross-breeding. They created seed banks in case of shortages and
organized into groups devoted to conserving landraces. At the
policy level, project leaders helped the Nepal government
establish a National Agro-biodiversity Committee and to include
agro-biodiversity in its 10th five-year plan, in 2002.
Perhaps most importantly, farmers “bought into” the theory and
devoted themselves to learning how to conserve and enhance local
crop lines. It took four or five years before they were
convinced, says LI-BIRD Executive Director Pratap Shrestha. “The
farmers told us ‘if we are to conserve local varieties it would
be better if we cross and develop lines with the characteristics
that we want’.”
Farmers register a first
One of the tipping points for farmers’ participation in the
Pokhara area was the example of Pokhareli Jethobudho rice. “We
wanted to demonstrate to policymakers and farmers the importance
of retaining biodiversity on-farm, but there was no evidence,”
says Shrestha. Jethobudho is prized for its soft texture and
unique aroma and taste but it has problems with “lodging”
(falling over) and is susceptible to neck blast disease. The
quality of farmers’ seed was also inconsistent, and, knowing
this, traders would mix inferior rice into the Jethobudho that
they sold.
In 1998, the project grew Jethobudho from seeds collected from
338 local farmers, and then chose 186 promising lines for
further research. That sample was reduced to 46 lines, which
were then sent to 150 local farmers to grow and evaluate. Based
on their feedback, six lines were rated “outstanding” and will
now become the basis of all future Jethobudho grown in the area.
Millers and merchants are ready to pay a premium (6 % at the end
of November 2006) on the improved variety.
The new Jethobudho has also been registered at the district
agricultural office, the first time that Nepali farmers have
registered a crop variety that they developed. “This opens the
door to permit farming communities and groups to register their
lines … and utilize genetic resources for their benefit,” says
IPGRI scientist Bhuwon Sthapit.
In the project’s final years, researchers focused on
transforming the various activities into a system that
communities could maintain themselves. “Now we have a PPB group.
What we can do is cross-breed and then distribute the seeds to
fellow farmers who can test them in their fields. We also have a
CBM (community biodiversity management) group with a cash fund
that can be used in this process,” says Surya Nath Adhikari.
One of the project’s most important outcomes, says Sthapit, “is
the self-belief of the communities that they can mobilize their
different assets for their own development. Because of that,
within the two sites, activities are continuing and they are
attracting government and NGO support.”
Marty Logan is a Kathmandu-based journalist
For more information:
Dr. Bhuwon Sthapit, IPGRI-APO; 10 Dharmashila Buddha Vihar Marg,
Nadipur Patan, Ward 3, Kaski, Pokhara 3, Nepal; Tel.:
977-61-521108; Email:
b.sthapit@cgiar.org
Dr. Pratap Shrestha, Executive Director, LI-BIRD (Local
Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research & Development); P O Box
324, Pokhara, Nepal; Tel.: 977-61-535357 / 98560.20361; Fax:
977-61-526834; Email:
pshrestha@libird.org; Website:
http://www.libird.org/index.htm
Dr. M. P. Upadhyay, National Project Co-coordinator, Nepal
Agricultural Research Council, Agricultural Botany Division, GPO
Box 1135, Kathmandu, Nepal: Tel: 977-1-5521614/5521615: Fax:
977-1-5545485; Email:
iscc_nepal2@wlink.com.np;
abdiv@ntc.net.np
Ronnie Vernooy, Senior Program Specialist, Rural Poverty and
Environment program, IDRC, PO box 8500, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
K1G 3H9 Tel. 613-236-6163 X 2229 Email:
rvernooy@idrc.ca
|
|
