| Abstract |
It is a great pleasure to publish this booklet on the occasion of NARC-CIMMYT Day to mark Three Decades of NARC-CIMMYT Partnership in Maize/Wheat Research and Development. Both maize and wheat are priority cereal crops for food security in Nepal. During thirty-year period, noticeable progress has been made in the field of maize production. The importance of maize has increased substantially in Nepal in the past thirty years with area and production nearly doubling. Currently, maize occupies an area of 8,24525 ha. with an average yield of 1.8 t'ha. Our research has shown that this productivity of maize can be trebled in favorable areas and can be doubled in marginal areas. We would further like to extend this partnership for appropriate technology generation and dissemination for increased productivity that it further contributes to food security and poverty alleviation. The quality protein maize (QPM) developed by CIMMYT has a far reaching impact in fighting malnutrition and low protein diet of Nepalese hill people. NMRP has made Its programme to take up hybrid maize research and development for terai and inner terai as an irrigated winter and spring crop and OPVs for mid hills. I hope, a strong collaboration between NARC and CIMMYT in QPM and hybrid maize research would be forthcoming in the future. A remarkable progress in wheat production during the three decades of NARC-CIMMYT partnership has been achieved with more than six fold increment in wheat areas and tenfold increment in production. Now, wheat is grown in 6,60,040 ha. compared to 1,00,000 ha. in 1960s.The production is 11,83,530 mt. in contrast to about 1,00,000 tonnes in 1960s. Wheat faces stiff competition with other winter crops like legumes, oilseed, winter maize and vegetables etc. Despite all these, it is a very important crop in our country. The present productivity is 1.793 tlha and It can be doubled with judicious use of inputs and other related technologies. One of the strategies in wheat is to mechanize its cultivation in terai/inner terai and accessible valleys for reduced cost of production. The future collaboration between NARC and CIMMYT in wheat research will focus to solve this problem. Another area where scientists should look into, along with increasing productivity, is reduction of cost of production so that wheat cultivation becomes a remunerative enterprise. In the post-green revolution period elsewhere in the region, Nepal is also experiencing wheat stagnation due to soil fatigue and degradation of natural resource base |
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