Proposal summary

Under the new federal system in Nepal, agriculture is the responsibility of all three levels of government, and yet there are currently no effective mechanisms to ensure coordinated and coherent action; this includes the flow of knowledge and information. Establishment of Agricultural Knowledge Centres (AKC) was an important institutional innovation by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD) in Nepal when the federalized system of governance system took its roots in Nepal. In Province 2, there are five AKCs but they are detached from the wider system both vertically and horizontally in terms of knowledge gathering and knowledge dissemination. There is ample opportunity to enhance the role and contribution of AKCs in transferring agriculture technology by co-assessing and co-producing knowledge with the help local governments and communities. A collectively owned and vibrant set of AKCs can help accelerate agriculture modernization in Province 2. In the present form, however the AKCs are not able to contribute significantly to agricultural modernization and commercialization. But with better coordination between existing agriculture development, research and extension institutions learning from the evolutionary process from India’s Krishi Vigyan Kendra’s (KVKs), it is possible to make AKCs an effective vehicle to support food security and sustainable food systems. The proposed study plans to study this possibility in the context of the COVID19 crisis, and share the knowledge and learning to feed into the agriculture sector policy of Province 2 government and participating local municipal government.

Project partners
Funding Agency: ACIAR, Govt. of Australia
Executing Agency: CGED-Nepal,
Implementing Partners: CGED-Nepal and CDAFN,

Collaborating Partners:
1. National Agriculture Research Centre (NARC);
2. Directorate of Agriculture Development (DAD), Province No. 2
3. Municipality of Bardibas (Mahottari) and Mithila (Dhanusa)

Duration: 12 months (start date 15 July 2020)