Stakeholders call for at least one community seed bank at each local level in Koshi
MORANG: Stakeholders have emphasised the need to establish at least one community seed bank at each local level in Koshi Province.
They made the remarks at an interaction entitled 'Community Seed Banks in Koshi Province: Current Status and Need for Expansion', organised in Biratnagar on Wednesday. The event was organised by the Local Initiative for Biodiversity Research and Development, Pokhara (LI‑BIRD), in collaboration with the Directorate of Agriculture Development, Koshi Province, and the Community Seed Bank Association Nepal, Kawasoti, Nawalparasi.
Stakeholders said a seed bank is necessary at every local level to conserve local and indigenous seeds.
Pashupati Pokharel, secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Agriculture and Cooperatives of the Koshi Province government, said the government is working on the preservation of local and indigenous seeds and stressed the need to promote foods made from local produce as snacks in schools and government offices.
Programme adviser of the Community Seed Bank Federation Nepal, Pitamber Shrestha, said seed banks are the basis for current and future food security, nutrition, the environment and agricultural research and development. He emphasised that joint efforts by agencies at all three levels of government are essential for the conservation of indigenous and local seeds.
(With inputs from RSS)
A member of the board of directors of the Community Seed Bank Association Nepal, Dilli Paudel, said the programme was organised to explore the possibility of including seed conservation in the district under the provincial initiative for the upcoming fiscal year and to identify ways of mainstreaming and expanding the initiative.
There are four community seed banks in Koshi Province: Charpate Seed Bank in Morang, Shivganj Community Seed Bank in Jhapa, Tamaphok Community Seed Bank in Sankhuwasabha and Khadananda Seed Bank in Bhojpur.
