| Project Name |
Promoting New Maize Varieties and Integrated Plant Nutrition System in Maize- based Systems in the Hilly Areas of Jajarkot District |
| Funding Agency |
Hill Maize Research Project (HMRP) |
| Project Location |
Suwanauli and Dashera VDCs of Jajarkot district |
| Project Duration |
2007 to 2009 |
| Target Group |
Farmers from disadvantaged group including Dalits, women, Janajati having food sufficiency less than six months in a year (1,338 HHs) |
| Project Partners |
Hilly Region Development Campaign (HRDC), Concern Worldwide Nepal |
| Total Budget (NRs) |
NRs 857,000.00 |
| Actual Expenditure |
NRs 6,86,229.85 |
| Project Objective |
- To promote sustainable soil fertility management practices through maximum utilization of locally available resources.
- To ensure the availability of quality maize seeds to increase maize production and productivity through CBSP approach and thereby enhancing food security of the small and marginalized farmers of the project areas.
- To disseminate the findings of demonstrative activities for the benefit of different stakeholders.
|
| Expected Outputs |
- Productivity of maize increased through the adoption of IPNS.
- New varieties of maize introduced in the area; their performance evaluated and suitable varieties promoted.
- Food security status of the participant household improved than before.
|
| Major Activities |
- IPNS trial on maize.
- Demonstrate improved FYM preparation and conservation farming.
- Conduct PVS trial on maize varieties (during initial year).
- Informal Research and Demonstration (IRD) on different varieties.
- Community based seed production of farmers preferred varieties.
- Farmers' training on IPNS and maize seed production.
|
| Major Achievements |
- About 1,338 families have been directly benefited through project interventions.
- Through the adoption of integrated practices of soil fertility management and use of improved varieties, maize yield increased by 40% on average.
- The new and high yielding varieties like Deuti, Manakamana-1, Manakamana-3, Sheetala, Arun-1, etc. have been introduced and tested in the locality in a participatory way and some of them are well accepted by the farmers.
- Community based seed production of farmers preferred varieties has been initiated in the project area.
- Farmers' knowledge and skill on the preparation and use of improved FYM has been significantly enhanced.
|
| Lessons Learnt |
- Participatory research and development approach allows farmers to select appropriate technologies/ processes of their interest and thus adds up in the sustainability of the program.
- Diamond trial model is quite effective in empowering farmers in various technical aspects of the treatments tested, especially in illiterate communities and DAGs.
|
| Recommendations |
- To ensure easy availability of improved seed at the local level, local seed system strengthening in general, and commercial seed production in strategic location, should be promoted. Emphasis should be given to use truthful labeled seed for the production of grains.
- Local resource based IPNS should be developed, validated and promoted in the remote hills rather than external resource.
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