Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Japan to help Nepal in agri research

Japan is helping Nepal conduct research in plant breeding, seed production and gerplasm.
Nepal Agriculture Research Council (NARC) and Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS) signed a Memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Kathmandu today to collaborate in the agri research. Japan has also agreed to help in Nepal in agriculture, trade and investment through its research.
Acting executive director of NARC Tek Bahadur Gurung and president of JIRCAS Masaru Iwanaga signed the MoU on behalf of their respective institutions.
Earlier in January, researchers from Japan visited Nepal for their research and preparing ground work for MoU signing between the two institutions. According to the MoU, Japanese scientists will come to Nepal to conduct research on different crops.
“JIRCAS and NARC are collaborating with each other for agri research in Nepal,” Iwanaga said at the signing ceremony. “Japanese food scientists have already done research on gerplasm and field derivation in Kathmandu Valley,” he said, adding that findings of the study will help to enhance phosphate nutrients in soil which will help to increase rice production. “Both Nepal and Japan have common culture in fermented food.”
 A study of this tradition could also be a promising research area,” he added.
On the occasion, Japanese government officials assured to help explore the probability of research in various fields. They said Japan could accept foreign workers in agriculture sector in the near future.
Gurung of NARC, on the occasion, said that the collaboration with JIRCAS will help agriculture sector. “We will hold discussions with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development to finalise priority of the government and conduct research accordingly," Gurung said, adding that plant breeding could be one of the areas in collaborative research work. “Promotion of underutilised crop, which can withstand impacts of climate change, will benefit us in the future.”
According to NARC, Japan is interested to help Nepal in increasing production of rice. “The researchers are focusing on hybrid rice, which gives high yields,” NARC said, adding that Japan is also interested to conduct research on buckwheat farming.

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