Impacts of participatory crop improvement in the low-altitude regions of Nepal

Participatory rice improvement in Nepal has been carried out by a network of partners in the Terai region. Farmers in these areas rely on rice, and improvements in yield and quality have considerable benefits for their livelihoods. They grow rice in rainfed, low-fertility fields and these farmers have had limited, or no, access to new varieties. The participatory project has created new varieties and most of them are adapted to rainfed, low-fertility fields, and because they are more disease and pest resistant need less, or no, environmentally damaging pesticides. Overall, rice varietal biodiversity is increased, and other innovations introduced by the project, such as kidney bean, has increased crop diversity. The impacts of the project are already considerable. Tens of thousands of farming households have adopted project varieties and benefited from them. Institutional impacts in Nepal have also been considerable; they are not restricted to rice but have influenced programmes in maize and wheat. The project, in the long term, will have great impact outside of Nepal as international and national research systems adopt the methods developed by the project. PPB methods greatly enhance the returns to investment in plant breeding by saving as much as 10 years in bringing a new variety to farmers.