Agricultural biodiversity is the basis for agricultural research and development. This paper is based on the survey across the country along with the field implementation and action research on different conservation approaches over the years and locations. Management of agricultural biodiversity is being initiated in Nepal through ex-situ, on-farm, in-situ and breeding strategies by National Agriculture Genetic Resources Center (National Genebank) from 2010. National Genebank has implemented on-farm conservation across the country. Different approaches are community seed bank, community field genebank, household seed bank, household field genebank, village level field genebank and school field genebank. In addition to these, landrace enhancement program and recognition of agro-biodiversity rich farmers have also contributed on conserving APGRs. Identification of agro-biodiversity rich farmers have been initiated in collaboration with different governmental and non-governmental organizations across the country. Strong network among these farmers is supposed to establish for effectively managing APGRs on-farm. Agro-biodiversity conserved by such farmers is called household genebank, which consist of seed storage (household seed bank) and household field genebank. There are more than 100 CSBs in the country and some of them are conserving local genetic resources. Eight community field genebanks have been functionalized for conserving recalcitrant seeds and vegetatively propagated crop species. Village level field genebank has been established by NGO in Makwanpur district to conserve banana and taro. In this approach, different households grow different landraces, maintaining maximum diversity within a village. In some areas, school field genebank has been established by growing local APGRs in school areas. This helps to conserve APGRs, educate the students, earn the income and make environment beautiful. Genebank also encourages farmers to reintroduce the landraces from the National Genebank. Accessioning these APGRs and training to farmers and farming communities are necessary to effectively and efficiently conserving and utilizing APGRs on-farm.
Forests and water are important entities for sustaining life on earth. In a terrestrial ecosystem, linkages between the entities creates a mosaic benefiting wildlife. In turn, communities get benefits stemming up from ecosystem services such as fodder, fuelwood, and water. We present a case study from a forest restoration project to assess the linkages between forest, water and wildlife across the Lamahi bottleneck area in Terai Arc Landscape. We used a combination of surveys such as forest area and canopy cover change (2001-2016) analysis followed by identification of water sources, camera trapping survey, household questionnaire survey, and process documentation. Forest area has increased by ~20 km 2 in last 15 years followed by number of water sources along the identified tributaries. Water sources are conserved in the form of conservation ponds by communities living downstream and utilized irrigation water in vegetable farming. Communities have benefited financially (~US$ 1252) contributing to their income level from the sale of fresh seasonal vegetables in nearby markets. Camera trap surveys including the assessment of historical records has shown a presence of wildlife including elephants, hyenas, and other small carnivores in and around the bottleneck forest. Both, motivation and enthusiastic support from local communities followed by conducive government policies led to the improved condition of natural resources over the period. This has also created a mosaic for wildlife forming functional connectivity along the linear Terai Arc Landscape.
The importance of generation-old local knowledge in advancing agriculture is well recognized worldwide. However, such knowledge is continually eroding together with the extinction of locally evolved genetic materials. Consequently, the knowledge gap between different age groups is widening. The knowledge gap is also widening between male and female due to continuous shift in gender roles in agriculture. Using responses collected from 120 male and female farmers from Bara, the lowland Terai of Nepal, we assessed inter-generational and gender-based knowledge gap of smallholders on agricultural biodiversity by taking rice crop as an example. Based on the standard definition of younger and older generation, the age group was divided into two: ≤ 34 (15-34) years old and > 34 years old. Information was collected on: i) rice varieties recalled by respondents, ii) rice varieties recognized by observing standing crop on-farm, iii) rice varieties recognized by observing seed samples, and iv) respondent’s experiences and knowledge about selected cultivars. Descriptive analysis, t-test, and Pearson’s Correlation were used to analyze the data. Respondents of age group > 34 years old named and identified significantly (p < 0.01) more varieties than age group ≤ 34 in overall, indicating that the older generation is more knowledgeable and the knowledge hasn’t been adequately inherited to younger generations resulting in the erosion of knowledge. Similarly, males are significantly more knowledgeable than females in overall and among the higher age group category (p < 0.01), likely because males from Madhesi community have wider social networks both within and outside their villages than females. Females are more knowledgeable than males in the lower age group category because girls are engaged more in household chores and farming activities, while boys attain higher grades and travel for off-farm jobs. There was a strong correlation among the three techniques, namely, naming, recognizing standing crops, and recognizing the seeds (p < 0.01). This suggests that all the techniques are robust and can be interchangeably used for such type of studies depending on time and resource availability. This study finally infers that proper knowledge transfer is necessary to reduce the gulf of the knowledge gap between males and females as well as between generations if agrobiodiversity is to be conserved and utilized for growth and development of agriculture in the long run.
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