Record Details

Country-wide extension of integrated crop management of chickpea in Nepal

OAR@ICRISAT

View Archive Info
 
 
Field Value
 
Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/4840/
 
Title Country-wide extension of integrated crop management of chickpea in Nepal
 
Creator Stevenson, P C
Pande, S
Pound, B
 
Subject Chickpea
 
Description This paper discusses lessons that have been learned both from
discussions at the present meeting and those distilled from experiences
of project partners during the collaborative activities of NARC,
ICRISAT and NRI under the Crop Protection Programme's (DFID)
project to rehabilitate chickpea in Nepal (DFID R7885). Chickpea is
a crop that can compete with alternatives; it is highly profitable when
grown with appropriate technology and improves livelihoods for poor
farmers. Markets per se are not a limiting step for the nationwide
expansion of improved chickpea production in Nepal (most chickpea
consumed in Nepal is still imported), but aspects of marketing are,
and need addressing to ensure trouble free expansion of chickpea
production. Aspects of infrastructure also need addressing, especially
the connectivity between research and extension organizations in
Nepal, to enable joined-up extension services and technology support.
Seed storage has too low a priority for both farmers and extension
services and needs greater focus. Pesticide quality and insecticide
resistance need monitoring and infrastructure and policy/legislation to
support biological alternatives such as NPV needs attention. Farmers'
past experiences with particular management tools (eg, familiarity
with insecticides from vegetable p r o d u c t i o n ) often coincided with
success, and finally skills of diagnosis and timing for applications
of technology needs particular attention across all farmers. Because
chickpea is self-fertilizing, farmers can produce and maintain their own
seed stock negating the long-term role of seed production enterprises in
up-scaling. The project also encouraged low cost inputs, which are less
financially rewarding for Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (SMEs).
There is, however, always a need for technology inputs and seed
provision for new farmers so there is still a role for the private sector. Self-help groups increasingly need to take on the role of seed producers.
Agriculture holds a position of low priority in popular media such
as newspapers and television, so alternatives need to be exploited to
ensure widespread knowledge dissemination.
 
Date 2005
 
Type Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Rights —
 
Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/4840/1/Country-wide%20extension%20of%20integrated%20crop%20management%20of%20chickpea%20in%20Nepal.pdf
Stevenson, P C and Pande, S and Pound, B (2005) Country-wide extension of integrated crop management of chickpea in Nepal. In: NARC-ICRISAT-NRI Workshop, 17-18 November 2004, Kathmandu, Nepal, India..