Country Presentation by Y.R. Pandey at the International Conference on Pulses in Marrakesh, Morocco, 18-20 April 2016

1. Y R Pandey, PhD
Project Title: Harvest plus Challenge Program of CGIAR “Development of lentil lines
with high concentration of zinc and iron”
Nepal – Successes, Lessons Learnt & Challenges Ahead
Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC)

2. 2
Major Focus Areas of Project Activities
• Development of Micro-nutrient Rich Lentil Varieties (Specially higher
concentration of Iron and Zinc)
• Dissemination of Fe and Zn rich lentil varieties through
– Participatory Varietal Selection (PVS)
– Large plot demonstration
– Participatory seed multiplication
• Seed production through Village Based Seed Production Entrepreneurs
(VBSE) and seed storage bin support
• Capacity Building: farmers’ training, fairs, field days and exposure visits

3. 3
Project Outputs
• Varietal Development:
– 14 reciprocal crosses were made and harvested a total of 9
crossed pods (F1)
– 3 F2 Population Developed
– Intermediate product Development:
• 3 F3, 27 F4 and 4 F5 populations were advanced
• A total of 139 single plants progenies were selected from
17 crosses based on better agronomical trait
• Final Product Development: 38 new lines selected and
advanced in yield trials
• Extension: 15 Lines were disseminated through participatory
programs

4. 4
Project Outputs
 Germplasm exchange: received >2700 exotics
lines of lentil, chickpea, grassspea and fababean
from ICARDA in the forms international nurseries:
disease tolerance, early, micronutrient, grain
quality etc.
 More than 100 researchers have already been
trained by ICARDA in different areas like breeding
techniques, advanced biometrical techniques for
crop improvement research etc.

5. 5
Project Outcomes
 Released Varieties of lentils
SN Name Acc # Origin Source Year Domain
1 Sindur Lo-111-25 Nepal Nepal 1979 Terai, midhill
2 Sisir P43 India ICARDA 1979 ”
3 Simrik T36 India ICARDA 1979 ”
4 Sikhar ILL 4404 Pakistan ICARDA 1989 ”
5 Simal LG 7 India ICARDA 1989 ”
6 Khajura Masuro-1 LG 198 India ICARDA 1999 Western terai
7 Khajura Masuro-2 PL 639 India ICARDA 1999 ”
8 Shital ILL 2580 India ICARDA 2004 Terai, midhill
9 Sagun ILL 6829 ICARDA ICARDA 2009 Midhill, Valley
10 Maheswor Bharati ILL 7982 ICARDA ICARDA 2009 ”

6. 6
Project Outcomes
• RL-4 (ILL 6037 x ILL 8007) variety proposed for release
– Well adopted to terai to mid hill
– Has bolder seed size compared to existing varieties
– Good in Fe and selenium content
• Wider dissemination 15 micronutrient dense lentil cultivars viz. Simal,
Shikhar, Shital, Khajura Masuro-1, Khajura Masuro-2, Sisir and promising
cultivars ILL7723, ILL8006, RL-4, Black Masuro, ILL7715, ILL3490, LG-12,
ILL7164, HUL-57 in 17 districts
• PVS: Genotypes Black Masuro, RL-4, ILL-8006 & RL-12 were the best yielder
and farmers preferred cultivars

7. 7
Project Outcomes: Capacity Building
• 187 (80 female) farmers were trained in technical matters and seed
production: 4 events in 4 locations
• A flyer on “Development of micro-nutrient rich lentil in Nepal”
developed and disseminated in 500 copies
• A leaflets on Lentil production technology developed and disseminated
in 1000 copies

8. 8
Project Upscaling and Out-scaling
2014-15
• Varieties (Fe and Zn rich): Maheswor Bharati, Bari-4, ILL-7723, Sisir, Simal,
shital
• Total Districts Reached: 17 (specially 22 terai districts are popular for
lentil cultivation)
• Coverage area: 70 ha
• No of Farmers Reached: 1050
• Total Production: 11.23 mt
2015-16
Varieties (Fe and Zn rich): ILL-7723, Shital, Khajura Masuro-1, Black Masuro
Distributed to 900 farmers (15 districts, area coverage 37 ha).

9. 9
Lessons Learnt from the Project
• Dissemination through participatory programs: PVS, Large Plot
Demonstrations, fairs, exposure visits were effective in creating demand
for the varieties
• VBSE made availability of seeds at local levels
• Dissemination was rapid and wider when more women were
encouraged to participate the project activities
• Women were more attracted to the micronutrient rich varieties:
because they know importance of Fe and Zn in their diets

10. 10
Supportive Policy, Regulations & Market Forces
• High Government’s Priority because of export potentiality
• Agriculture Development Strategy: has identified lentil as one of the
prioritized commodity
• National Trade Integration Strategy
– Support in commercial scale production
– Seed supply chain strengthening
– Market diversification

11. 11
Policy, Regulations & Market Constraints
• Technical Constraints: biotic stresses, labor shortage, no-mechanization
and higher cost of production hence less competitive
• Lack of organized market for grain legumes
• Inadequate infrastructure/ mechanization/ processing/ value addition
• Lack of commercialization of legume cultivation
• Lack of adequate importance on the part of growers too
• Lack of awareness in farmers regarding grain legume technologies
• Low adoption of disease pest management technology
• Insufficiency in quality seeds

12. THANK YOU