The Agriculture and Research Development Center (ARDC Wengkhar) conducted 3 days training from 11^th to 13^th October, 2017 on vegetable seed production through the support of CARLEP. Total of 20 farmers (7 female & 13 male) attended the training. The training involved basic tips on summer and winter vegetables seed production and introduction to the idea of protected vegetable cultivation technology. The hands-on practice was provided on seed production of Cole crops, seed viability testing and packaging. The participants were also trained on record and book-keeping by RAMCO.

The training is a continuation of the earlier JICA-TCP, Horticulture Research and Development Project (HRDP) to enhance knowledge and skills of the seed growers’ in quality seed production. Of the 20 participants 8 of them (trained under HRDP since 2010) were given refresher course and shared their experiences to the new growers. These seed growers, on an average, earn cash income of Nu. 10000 – 60000 annually from the production and sale of various vegetable seeds (mostly broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, radish and sag).  Such experience sharing is expected to further motivate those farmers embarking on vegetable seed production.

Since the development of sustainable vegetable value chain is one of the main goals of CARLEP, commercialization of vegetable production is given major emphasis. This will demand timely access to quality seeds and thus the local availability of such inputs will play a crucial role in the success of the programme. Therefore, through the training, it is expected that the farmers’ capacity on quality vegetable seed production will be enhanced and thus meet the seed requirement within the region. To facilitate easy marketing of the seeds, the growers will also be linked to National Seed Centre (NSC) in due course of time. This would also contribute towards farm resilience building through reduction of dependency on an external source for the seeds.

These seed growers are supported with production inputs like water storage tank (2000 L syntax), pipes, watering can and knap-sack sprayer. They will also be supported with deep fridge and packing materials for storage and marketing of the seeds. The supports are funded through CARLEP-IFAD.

The training was concluded with the award of a certificate to the participants.