• TOPICS
KATHMANDU, MAY 18
Most Nepali people still depend on agriculture for maintaining their livelihood. Since climate change has affected this sector a lot, agricultural production is likely to dwindle in the years to come, impeding the people, especially the poor, even to subsist.
In recent times, increasing frequency of erratic rainfall, floods and drought has decreased agricultural productivity in Nepal. Since more farmers cannot identify crop and livestock problems on their own, they have to rely on sparsely distributed agricultural extension services. Actually, agricultural advisory services are essential for helping the Nepali farmers cope with the effects of climate change.
The National Agricultural Management Information System, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD), generates and provides relevant digital information to the farmers in 26 districts of Nepal. In collaboration with the Nepal Research Council and the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, MoALD publishes weekly advisory bulletins on cereals, vegetables, fruits, livestock and fish for these selected districts.
Nowadays, these advisories are sent from Kathmandu to other places. MoALD is working efficiently on establishing digital advisory platforms at the district level to address the context specific needs of farmers.
In fact, high-yielding and climate-resilient crops can help farmers cope with climate shocks and uncertainties. To grow such crops, farmers need information on their characteristics, availability and increasing requirements.
For this purpose, the seed quality control centre at MoALD, in collaboration with the maize and wheat improvement centre, has developed a digitally-enabled seed information system (DESIS).
A few years ago, seed producers had to wait for at least a year to know where to get breeder foundation seeds for further multiplication. This had an impact on seed demanding, forecasting and seed availability; consequently, many farmers did not have timely access to quality seeds.
DESIS provides seed suppliers, producers and farmers ready access to information on seed demand and supply apart from including a seed balance sheet that is updated almost in real time and a digital seed catalogue of officially released crop varieties in Nepal.
Actually, farmers and seed companies can select suitable varieties based on their requirements and place their demand alone.
Although MoALD has made some efforts to adopt new data driven technologies, it should make long-term strategies for institutionalising and sustaining these efforts.
A version of this article appears in the print on May 19, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.