FAO Director-General visits the Nepal Agriculture Research Council

Kathmandu – FAO Director-General QU Dongyu on Thursday paid a visit to the Nepal Agriculture Research Council (NARC), as part of his three-day visit to Nepal.

Qu was greeted by acting Executive Director Dhruba Bhattarai, who briefed him about the Council’s research activities. The Director-General also visited the National Potato Research Programme.

FAO has a long-standing relationship with NARC and recently collaborated with the Council in terms of agro-advisory preparation and dissemination and climate impact assessment in target areas of the GEF funded project “Reducing Vulnerability and Increasing Adaptive Capacity to Respond to Impacts of Climate Change and Variability for Sustainable Livelihoods in Agriculture Sector in Nepal,” implemented during the 2015 to 2019 period.

Activities included developing weekly agro-advisories based on the weather outlooks provided by the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, in collaboration with FAO.

FAO also collaborated with NARC on the development of climate resilient crop production technologies, a goat breeding improvement program through provision of Boar goat (both live goat and semen), as well as providing support for developing technology for fish breeding and the renewal of old carp fish seed from China. 

At NARC, the Director-General also visited its Laboratory of Plant Pathology Research Centre, and its Animal Breeding and Genetic Research Centre.

FAO is currently helping the Government of Nepal control a recent outbreak of the Fusarium Tropical Race 4 disease in banana.