Discussing participatory evaluations of improved maize, Nepal
Ram Bahadur Katuwal of the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) talks with farmer Bishnu Maya about the improved maize she grows since taking part in participatory evaluations of new varieties, on her farm in Belhara village, Dhankuta district, in the mid-hills of Nepal. The project was part of the Hill Maize Research Program (HMRP), a long-term collaboration between CIMMYT, NARC, and other partners.
Maya is a widowed mother of three and a "dalit," meaning she is a member of one of the poorest castes, considered "untouchable" in Nepal’s traditional hierarchical system. She works hard, devoting the majority of her 0.6 hectares to maize, but also tending millet, tomatoes, cucumbers, and various livestock. However, traditional maize varieties have one small ear per plant and are very tall, making them low-yielding and prone to lodging (i.e., falling over), and Maya was never able to grow enough for the whole year. She struggled to feed her family and to send her children to school.
Katuwal, then agronomist at NARC's Pakhribas Agriculture Research Station and currently cluster agronomist of the HMRP, worked directly with Maya and other farmers to help them choose new varieties to try, as well new crop management practices. Maya decided to plant a variety called Manakamana-3, which with its two large ears per plant gave her higher yields, as well as resisting lodging with its shorter, sturdier stalk and staying green as it matured, making a better feed for her livestock. The project also advised Maya to plant intercropped vegetables in addition to maize, bringing her additional food and income. “Now I have enough food and can sell some surplus to pay for my children’s education," she says.
The project focused on women farmers and disadvantaged groups like dalits, testing and promoting technologies that could be implemented by the farmers themselves. Participating farmers have observed 20-50% higher grain yields with the new varieties. "We know this program is for us. We would not have participated in the trials if it wasn't," says Maya. She now demonstrates the new variety to other farmers.
According to a report released in 2010, more than two decades of joint efforts between researchers from Nepal and CIMMYT have helped boost the country's maize yields 36% and those of wheat by 85%. As a result, farmers even in the country's remote, mid-hill mountain areas have more food and brighter futures.
Photo credit: D. Mowbray/CIMMYT.
For more on the HMRP and CIMMYT's relationship with Nepal, see the following:
2010 e-news, "Nepal-CIMMYT partnerships reach the unreached": www.cimmyt.org/en/about-us/media-resources/newsletter/869....
2006 e-news, "People of the Clouds": www.cimmyt.org/en/about-us/media-resources/newsletter/254....
Nepal-related stories on CIMMYT's blog: blog.cimmyt.org/?s=nepal.
Bishnu Maya appears as one of three women discussing their lives as maize farmers on the CIMMYT video "Maize for Life", available at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ls53idLkUg.
Discussing participatory evaluations of improved maize, Nepal
Ram Bahadur Katuwal of the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) talks with farmer Bishnu Maya about the improved maize she grows since taking part in participatory evaluations of new varieties, on her farm in Belhara village, Dhankuta district, in the mid-hills of Nepal. The project was part of the Hill Maize Research Program (HMRP), a long-term collaboration between CIMMYT, NARC, and other partners.
Maya is a widowed mother of three and a "dalit," meaning she is a member of one of the poorest castes, considered "untouchable" in Nepal’s traditional hierarchical system. She works hard, devoting the majority of her 0.6 hectares to maize, but also tending millet, tomatoes, cucumbers, and various livestock. However, traditional maize varieties have one small ear per plant and are very tall, making them low-yielding and prone to lodging (i.e., falling over), and Maya was never able to grow enough for the whole year. She struggled to feed her family and to send her children to school.
Katuwal, then agronomist at NARC's Pakhribas Agriculture Research Station and currently cluster agronomist of the HMRP, worked directly with Maya and other farmers to help them choose new varieties to try, as well new crop management practices. Maya decided to plant a variety called Manakamana-3, which with its two large ears per plant gave her higher yields, as well as resisting lodging with its shorter, sturdier stalk and staying green as it matured, making a better feed for her livestock. The project also advised Maya to plant intercropped vegetables in addition to maize, bringing her additional food and income. “Now I have enough food and can sell some surplus to pay for my children’s education," she says.
The project focused on women farmers and disadvantaged groups like dalits, testing and promoting technologies that could be implemented by the farmers themselves. Participating farmers have observed 20-50% higher grain yields with the new varieties. "We know this program is for us. We would not have participated in the trials if it wasn't," says Maya. She now demonstrates the new variety to other farmers.
According to a report released in 2010, more than two decades of joint efforts between researchers from Nepal and CIMMYT have helped boost the country's maize yields 36% and those of wheat by 85%. As a result, farmers even in the country's remote, mid-hill mountain areas have more food and brighter futures.
Photo credit: D. Mowbray/CIMMYT.
For more on the HMRP and CIMMYT's relationship with Nepal, see the following:
2010 e-news, "Nepal-CIMMYT partnerships reach the unreached": www.cimmyt.org/en/about-us/media-resources/newsletter/869....
2006 e-news, "People of the Clouds": www.cimmyt.org/en/about-us/media-resources/newsletter/254....
Nepal-related stories on CIMMYT's blog: blog.cimmyt.org/?s=nepal.
Bishnu Maya appears as one of three women discussing their lives as maize farmers on the CIMMYT video "Maize for Life", available at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ls53idLkUg.