Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) was established in 1991 as an autonomous organisation under ‘Nepal Agricultural Research Council Act-1991’. An apex body for agricultural research in the country, it was established with the ultimate goal of poverty alleviation along with a sustainable growth of agriculture production through the development and usage of appropriate technologies in different aspects of agriculture.

It has been conducting research work on various prioritised fields of agriculture by coordinating with other institutions in Nepal, along with working as the National Agricultural Documentation Centre (NADC) and disseminating agricultural technologies to its clients.

Agricultural experts reflected on the achievements and future challenges of NARC during a function to commemorate its 11th anniversary here on Monday.

“Unless we ensure quality and broad based growth all over the country, there can never be true progress,” said Mahesh Acharya, minister for agriculture and cooperatives. “Scientists involved in the agricultural sector should start working under the banner of a national campaign in order to become self-reliant in specific kinds of food grain and livestock, within a timeframe for the overall development of the agricultural sector.”

Minister Acharya stressed the need to formulate plans for increasing production and promoting the market by identifying crops suitable to the climatic conditions of a mountainous country like Nepal.

“Agricultural scientists should extend their research works and technology to farmers,” he added. “The FAO Asia-Pacific regional meeting, to be held in Kathmandu next week, will play a very significant role in meeting the challenges of poverty, malnutrition and hunger faced by more than 40 per cent of the people in the South Asian region.”

“It is essential to change the traditional system of farming and adopt a professional agricultural system in order to increase production and meet the targets of the long term agricultural perspective plan,” said Laxman Prasad Mehta, minister of state for agriculture and cooperatives.

“Research and development are two sides of a coin and are inter-dependent links of any sector,” said Dr. Adarsha Pradhan, speaking on behalf of NARC employees who received plaques for completing 25 years of services. He also shed light on various research activities being carried out in the field of agriculture.

“NARC has released 187 species of seeds for 43 kinds of crops suitable for various climate conditions, in the past four decades,” said Raghu Nath Prasad Sapkota, acting executive director of NARC.

According to statistics made available by NARC for fiscal year 2001/2002, improved varieties of crops cover nearly 2.4 million hectares of the approximately 3 million hectares of land under cultivation. Of these, 74 per cent is covered by paddy, 69 per cent is covered by maize and 91 per cent is covered by wheat.