Status of agriculture genetic resources of Lalitpur district
Nepal is mountainous agricultural country richly endowed with numerous biodiversity. Nepal ranking 49th in the world for biodiversity is the hotspot for world’s biodiversity .Nepal is rich in indigenous wild and landrace plant genetic resources for agronomic, horticultural, forestry, or medicinal uses, but much of this germplasm remains uncollected and awaits economic development. However, it covers 0.03 percent of the globe, it is home to over 3% and 1% of all known vegetation and wildlife, respectively. There are 75 plant types, 35 forest types, and 5 rangeland ecosystems among the 118 ecosystem types. Nepal contains tremendous diversity of habitats of various life forms in terms of topography, composition, and climate. However, such rich diversity is being threatened by increasing human and livestock population pressure, lack of conducive policies and regulations, growing poverty incidences and lack of public awareness. Protected areas and the National Gene bank are key accomplishments for biodiversity and agro biodiversity conservation in Nepal. Nepal has twenty protected areas that comprise 23% of the country (34,193 km2). Informal and non-formal seed delivery systems, which account for around 85 to 100 percent of seed supply in Nepal depending on crop species, also contribute to crop diversity. Among 24,300 total species in the country, 28% are agricultural genetic resources (AGRs), termed as agro biodiversity. Agro biodiversity has six components (crops, forages, livestock, aquatic, insects and microorganisms) and four sub-components (domesticated, semi-domesticated, wild relatives and wild edible) in Nepal.
Lalitpur district is situated in bagmati province is the third largest city of Nepal after Kathmandu and Pokhara, and it is located in the south-central part of Kathmandu Valley.In lalitpur district ,major crops are rice, maize, wheat, finger millet, barley, beans, etc which occupy major area . Considering crops grown in this area, the location is rich in agro-biodiversity where vegetables and pulses diversity was enormous. Among the pulse list, diversity of common bean and cowpea is incredible. Taro diversity is found to be huge though only a few unique accessions were collected such as Paanch Mukhe (five mouthed), Dudhe (milky), among others.A distinct group of chilli peppers was observed. Jire Khursani (small but strong), Tamang Khursani and Akabare Khursani were found to be popular Akabare Khursani are believed to possess medicinal value especially for acidity problem despites its strong pungency.Two wild relatives of brinjal, namely Solanum torvum and Solanum xanthocarpum is also observed.Mainly people in this area rely of rice ,wheat ,maize for livlihood.
1. Cereals
Commodity | Area (ha) | Production (mt) | Productivity(mt/ha) |
Spring rice | 3000 | 10784 | 3.48 |
Main season rice | 5000 | 15226 | 1.30 |
Maize | 8000 | 20445 | 1.50 |
Wheat | 5927 | 8058 | 1.16 |
Millet | 5000 | 12853 | 1.31 |
Barley | 172 | 199 | 1.16 |
2. Vegetable
Commodity | Area (ha) | Production (mt) | Productivity(mt/ha) |
Cauliflower | 600 | 10450 | 12.24 |
Cabbage | 355 | 4606 | 9.24 |
Tomato | 790 | 1189 | 15.68 |
Broad leaf mustard | 274 | 2833 | 10.34 |
Various medicinal plants are found in lalitpur.Altogether, 51 species of plants used by local people of lalitpur district. Some medicinal plants found in this area are : Amaranthus caudatus ,Lantana camara , Justicia adhatoda L, Sagittaria trifolia , Ricinus communis ,Solanum nigrum ,Asparagus filicinus , Dennstaedtia appendiculata ,Elsholttia blanda ,Ipomoea purpurea, Osyris wlghtiana , Phyllanthus parvifolius ,Thelypteris auriculata etc.
Few landraces, mostly from rice are identified as extinct and few are under extinction mainly due to preference of farmers to newer and high yielding varieties. Local rice varieties with good taste and other important traits such as Lalbeti Dhan, Pokhreli Dhan, Dhulikheli Marshi, Ghouriya/Gaure Dhan, Kale Dhan, Gola Dhan, Chhote Marsi/Marshe, Jarneli Dhan, Bagane Dhan, Badure Dhan, etc are lost in these area due to low yeilding, lodging problem. Similarly Garve Cauli has already been lost. However, since inception in 2010, the National Agriculture Genetic Resources Centre (NAGRC) has been expanding exploration, collecting, characterisation, and conservation efforts. Around 11928 accessions of more than 90 different crop species have been gathered and stored by the center from 61 districts across Nepal. In total, 125 accessions of crop wild relatives were collected from 30 districts. For crops and forages species, seed banks, tissue banks, field gene banks, community seed banks, and community field gene banks are used; aqua pond gene banks and restocking are used for aquatic agricultural animal and plant species; cryo bank and livestock farm gene bank are used for livestock; insect gene bank and insect field gene bank are used for insect species; and microbial gene bank and microbial field gene bank are used for microbial species.Dalchoki community seed bank,lalitpur has been working to serve the community through seed production and distribution of local crop varieties locally and conservation, collection ,storage ,exchange of seeds.
Alarming loss of landraces prompting an urgent need for collection and conservation as many species and accessions as possible, not only in this area but also in other agrobiodiversity-rich areas. Human disturbance have been profound in areas of lalitpur which has been directly affecting agrobiodiversity. Some actions to be taken in future are:
- Registration of biodiversity in all the districts covering ethnic and ecological diversity. ·
- Establishment of gene bank, conservation sites etc.
- Developing and implementing farmers’ field schools.
- Collaborative exploration and collection of unique native landraces as assisted by agro biodiversity fair as an important tool to collect a huge number of genetic resources in a short time with spending minimal resources .
Only 4% of all agricultural species have been preserved, implying that conservation efforts in the country must be accelerated. Diverseness should be examined at all five levels (agro ecosystem, species, habitat, and ecosystem services) to prioritize for protection.In order to protect agrodiversity ; Developing early warning system for genetic erosion , Link national gene bank with community gene bank ,Creation awareness to the local communities , Maintaining biodiversity register recognized by national legislation ,Organize biodiversity fair on regular basis with help of extension workers , Human resources development ,Joint regional collaborative projects should be done.
Conclusion:
Lalitpur is rich in agro-biodiversity where vegetables and pulses diversity was enormous.At present the biodiversity of this region is in great danger due to unplanned settlement and unnatural extraction of natural resources . Developing early warning system for genetic erosion , Link national gene bank with community gene bank will help to conserve the natural genetic resources of lalitpur.
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