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Kathmandu Thursday February 22, 2001 Falgun 11, 2057.
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Protect indigenous seeds
Genetically-developed hybridized seeds
increasingly used by Nepali farmers have been supplanting indigenous seeds. The reason for
this unfortunate state of affairs is that the government has developed no new hybridized
seeds that yield better crops in the country. As a result, Nepali farmers have to depend
on importing foreign seeds worth millions of rupees every year. This has also led farmers
to disregard indigenous brands of seed. If the government had taken proper measures to
genetically hybridize indigenous seeds, the country would not have had to import such a
large quantity of seeds that do not adapt well to our soil. Neither would the growth of
the agricultural sector have suffered so badly. The fact is that the genetically-developed
imported seeds do not have any breeding capacity and consequently, the farmers have to
import seeds from foreign companies every time they sow. This has become a matter of
serious concern.
Seeds Entrepreneurs Association of Nepal
(SEAN) states that Nepal imported seeds worth Rs 351 million in the last fiscal year alone
through organized dealers. A large quantity of imported seeds remains unrecorded due to
the porous border between Nepal and India. The reason why Nepali farmers prefer imported
seeds to indigenous ones, is that imported seeds yield better crops in the short term and
can be grown even out of season to fetch better prices. The indigenous brands of rice -
Basmati, Rajbhog, Manabhog - are no longer grown in the eastern region of the country.
Indian brands of paddy and maize, which are easily available on the market, have gradually
been replacing indigenous seeds. This has no doubt affected the country’s
biodiversity severely. Despite this fact, the government has neither taken the development
of the agricultural sector seriously nor has it met the demand for hybridized seeds.
The import of seeds in larger quantities
certainly affects the agriculture sector more than the fact that they yield high value
crops and cereals. The country will have to pay a "royalty" whenever it imports
seeds once it joins the World Trade Organization. This apart, new diseases will begin to
appear in crops as the imported seeds are genetically unsuitable to the climate of Nepal.
This is the main reason why imported seeds grown in the country lack breeding capacity.
The government has no option but to protect the indigenous seeds if it intends to make
this country self-reliant in agriculture. Imported seeds have not only harmed the growth
of agriculture but has also made farmers reliant on such imports. Therefore it is high
time the government invested more in the agriculture sector and used better technology to
improve the indigenous seeds to meet domestic demand and produce better crops even out of
season.
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