Community seed bank helps preserve seeds in Nawalpur

The Community Seed Bank at Kawasoti of Nawalpur is helping in preserving the indigenous seeds of cereals, legumes and vegetables.

The Bank was established to preserve the seeds of endangered rice, vegetables and fruits as the native crops are disappearing rapidly.

The facility situated at Tribhuvantar of Kawasoti-14 currently has seeds of 45 species of rice, informed Parbati Bhandari, President of the Seed Bank. "Many species of rice that our ancestors planted and harvested are now on the verge of extinction. We, thus, have been producing seeds of those endangered rice to prevent them from becoming extinct," said Bhandari.

She further informed that the conserved species of rice are Kanak Jeera, Bakulle Anadi, Magar Anadi, Thapa Chini, Aam Jyoti, Pahelo Dhan, Gheupuri Jhinuwa, Kalo Nuniya, Basmati, Dhudhraj among others.

A total of 953 households of local farmers are engaged in the Seed Bank at present. "The preserved seeds of grains such as legumes, pulses, cereal are distributed to farmers season-wise," added Bhandari.

The native crops are highly nutritious and produce higher yields and fetch higher prices besides being more adapted to the local climate. Hence, the local farmers are becoming more interested in farming native crops, according to Dan Bahadur Mahato, secretary of the Seed Bank.

The Seed Bank was set up with the support of Local Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research and Development (LI-BIRD). "The Bank now receives support from the local, provincial and federal governments as well," gushed secretary Mahato.