Himalayan News Service

Pokhara, April 17:

The Regional Seed Centre of Pokhara has recently constructed a seed garden to facilitate farmers in growing fodder grass and other rare plants in future. Narayan Sharma, regional forest conservation executive, said that since grass and trees are important to farmers, the seed garden would help them in their production. The centre has already established seed gardens in four districts of the western region.

The seed garden, which started with a Sisau garden nine years ago in Kapilbastu, has now spread to Pumdibhumdi, Malepatan, Raikhanyu and Kaahun. Apart from these, bakaino and epil seed centres at Kapilbastu and chyuri seed centre in Palpa have also been established.

The sisau plant has already started seeding, which would mature only after four years, said Sharma. Ranger Jyoti Koirala said that the sisau forest in the terai region has been cut haphazardly and that it would be hard to find a decent sisau tree in the near future, had it not been for the seed centre. Commonly, the seeds are collected in three ways — from nature, from tree plantation and from gardens.