Y R Pandey, PhD

Project Title: Harvest plus Challenge Program of CGIAR “Development of lentil lines with high concentration of zinc and iron”Nepal – Successes, Lessons Learnt & Challenges Ahead

Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC)

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Major Focus Areas of Project Activities

• Development of Micro-nutrient Rich Lentil Varieties (Specially higher concentration of Iron and Zinc)

• Dissemination of Fe and Zn rich lentil varieties through– Participatory Varietal Selection (PVS)– Large plot demonstration – Participatory seed multiplication

• Seed production through Village Based Seed Production Entrepreneurs (VBSE) and seed storage bin support

• Capacity Building: farmers’ training, fairs, field days and exposure visits

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Project Outputs

• Varietal Development:– 14 reciprocal crosses were made and harvested a total of 9

crossed pods (F1)– 3 F2 Population Developed– Intermediate product Development: • 3 F3, 27 F4 and 4 F5 populations were advanced• A total of 139 single plants progenies were selected from

17 crosses based on better agronomical trait• Final Product Development: 38 new lines selected and

advanced in yield trials• Extension: 15 Lines were disseminated through participatory

programs

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Project Outputs

Germplasm exchange: received >2700 exotics lines of lentil, chickpea, grassspea and fababean from ICARDA in the forms international nurseries: disease tolerance, early, micronutrient, grain quality etc.

More than 100 researchers have already been trained by ICARDA in different areas like breeding techniques, advanced biometrical techniques for crop improvement research etc.

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Project Outcomes

Released Varieties of lentils

SN Name Acc # Origin Source Year Domain 1 Sindur Lo-111-25 Nepal Nepal 1979 Terai, midhill2 Sisir P43 India ICARDA 1979 ” 3 Simrik T36 India ICARDA 1979 ” 4 Sikhar ILL 4404 Pakistan ICARDA 1989 ” 5 Simal LG 7 India ICARDA 1989 ” 6 Khajura Masuro-1 LG 198 India ICARDA 1999 Western terai 7 Khajura Masuro-2 PL 639 India ICARDA 1999 ” 8 Shital ILL 2580 India ICARDA 2004 Terai, midhill9 Sagun ILL 6829 ICARDA ICARDA 2009 Midhill, Valley

10 Maheswor Bharati ILL 7982 ICARDA ICARDA 2009 ”

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Project Outcomes

• RL-4 (ILL 6037 x ILL 8007) variety proposed for release– Well adopted to terai to mid hill– Has bolder seed size compared to existing varieties– Good in Fe and selenium content

• Wider dissemination 15 micronutrient dense lentil cultivars viz. Simal, Shikhar, Shital, Khajura Masuro-1, Khajura Masuro-2, Sisir and promising cultivars ILL7723, ILL8006, RL-4, Black Masuro, ILL7715, ILL3490, LG-12, ILL7164, HUL-57 in 17 districts

• PVS: Genotypes Black Masuro, RL-4, ILL-8006 & RL-12 were the best yielder and farmers preferred cultivars

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Project Outcomes: Capacity Building

• 187 (80 female) farmers were trained in technical matters and seed production: 4 events in 4 locations

• A flyer on “Development of micro-nutrient rich lentil in Nepal” developed and disseminated in 500 copies

• A leaflets on Lentil production technology developed and disseminated in 1000 copies

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Project Upscaling and Out-scaling

2014-15 • Varieties (Fe and Zn rich): Maheswor Bharati, Bari-4, ILL-7723, Sisir, Simal,

shital• Total Districts Reached: 17 (specially 22 terai districts are popular for lentil

cultivation)• Coverage area: 70 ha• No of Farmers Reached: 1050• Total Production: 11.23 mt

2015-16Varieties (Fe and Zn rich): ILL-7723, Shital, Khajura Masuro-1, Black MasuroDistributed to 900 farmers (15 districts, area coverage 37 ha).

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Lessons Learnt from the Project

• Dissemination through participatory programs: PVS, Large Plot Demonstrations, fairs, exposure visits were effective in creating demand for the varieties

• VBSE made availability of seeds at local levels

• Dissemination was rapid and wider when more women were encouraged to participate the project activities

• Women were more attracted to the micronutrient rich varieties: because they know importance of Fe and Zn in their diets

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Supportive Policy, Regulations & Market Forces

• High Government’s Priority because of export potentiality• Agriculture Development Strategy: has identified lentil as one of the

prioritized commodity• National Trade Integration Strategy– Support in commercial scale production– Seed supply chain strengthening– Market diversification

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Policy, Regulations & Market Constraints

• Technical Constraints: biotic stresses, labor shortage, no-mechanization and higher cost of production hence less competitive

• Lack of organized market for grain legumes• Inadequate infrastructure/ mechanization/ processing/ value addition• Lack of commercialization of legume cultivation• Lack of adequate importance on the part of growers too• Lack of awareness in farmers regarding grain legume technologies• Low adoption of disease pest management technology• Insufficiency in quality seeds

THANK YOU