KATHMANDU, Jan. 14: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Agriculture and Cooperatives Badri Prasad Mandal presided over the 20th meeting of the Nepal Agriculture Research Council (NARC) here today. Mr Chaudhari is also chairman of NARC.
The meeting highlighted various matters including the development of 188 crop strains and their methods of cultivation, low cost technology that conserves resources, application of solar energy to raise paddy yields, Chandannath 1 and Chandannath 3 strains of paddy for Jumla, Khumal 3 and Manjushri 2 strains for Kathmandu and the method of throwing paddy seeds directly.
Also highlighted were tomato strains, the method of drying ginger, potato cultivation, cultivation of seasonal and off season vegetables, rainbow trouts, prawns and some other species of fish, maize, turkey, quail, black pigs, modern communications technology, and the future strategies of NARC.
Winding up the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister and NARC chairman Mandal said that NARC should especially pay attention to publicity for technology so as to reach out to farmers and to recognising the contribution of agricultural scientists.