National Outreach Research Centre organized 14th National Outreach Research Workshop on 10 and 11th Falgun, 2078 at Khumaltar, Lalitpur. This workshop is 14th edition of its kind. The two day workshop was inaugurated on 10th Falgun with a theme “Technology verification and dissemination for food security and income generation”. The inaugural session was chaired by Dr. Rebati Raman Poudel, Director General, Department of Agriculture amidst the presence of Dr. Govinda Prasad Sharma, respected Secretary (agriculture development), Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development. Altogether 33 (3 thematic and 30 technical) papers were presented in the workshop by researchers from Nepal Agricultural Research Council, Agriculture and Forestry University and Tribhuvan University. More than 80 participants including scientists, professors, extension workers and students actively participated in the workshop.
Mrs. Sharmila Piya, Senior Technical Officer, NORC, welcomed all the participants in the workshop. Dr. Dhruba Raj Bhattarai, Chief, NORC highlighted the objectives and importance of the workshop. Three thematic papers were presented one each from NARC, TU and AFU. Dr. Dhruba Raj Bhattarai, Chief, NORC presented on: Current status of outreach agriculture research in Nepal and new strategies for technology verification and dissemination. Next, Mr. Mahesh Jaishi, Director, Directorate of Extension, IAAS, TU presented on: Agricultural academic institution: bridging the gap between agriculture research-education-extension (REE) linkage with farming community level in Nepal. Similarly, Prof. Dr. Arjun Kumar Shrestha, Director, Directorate of Research and Extension, AFU presented on: Recent agri-technologies developed by AFU and technology delivery system.
Dr. Keshab Babu Koirala, Director, Crops and Horticulture Research, NARC on his speech indicated outreach as beauty of NARC. ‘In spite of lowered activities in OR sites in last two years due to Covid-19, no. of paper being presented in this workshop are satisfactory’, he said. He also requested to follow up for execution of OR guidelines as soon as possible. Respected Secretary, MoALD, Dr. Govinda Prasad Sharma on his speech, appreciated the workshop for promoting REE interface in practice. ‘This sort of REE interface will be assured in ATWG guidelines which is being rectified lately’, he said. Realizing the acute shortage of human resources in NARC, he promised for his positive role to amend the NARC regulations so as to recruit scientists as soon as possible. Dr. Rebati Raman Poudel, DG, DoA on his speech put forth the urgent need to check the drain of agriculture graduates to uplift this sector. He requested the universities to summarize and publish the thesis research works of their students in a comprehensive way in farmer friendly language.
30 technical papers of different disciplines were presented in 4 technical sessions. The 1st technical session was chaired by Prof. Dr. Arjun Kumar Shrestha, Director, DoREx, AFU and 11 technical papers were presented. Remaining 3 technical sessions were continued on second day. The 2nd technical session was chaired by Dr. Shreemat Shrestha, Principal Scientist, NARC and a total of 11 papers were presented. Similarly, 3rd technical session comprised of 4 technical papers which was chaired by Mr. Mahesh Jaishi, Director, Directorate of Extension, IAAS. Finally, the 4th technical session was chaired by Rajendra Pradhan, DDG, DoA which accommodated 4 technical papers. All the session chairs provided their most valuable comments and suggestions to the paper presenters for the betterment of their research works and articles.
Closing session of the workshop was chaired by Dr. Hari Krishna Shrestha, Director, NARI. Dr. Dhruba Raj Bhattrai, Convener of the workshop thanked all the guests, session chairpersons, paper presenters and other participants for their active participation and contribution to make the event successful. Chairperson of closing session extended his gratefulness for success of the workshop and requested all the stakeholders for higher level of collaboration in the days to come. Thanking all the participants, he finally wrapped up the two day workshop. The inaugural and closing sessions were facilitated by Mr. Kumar Mani Dahal while Mrs. Sharmila Piya and Mr. Bishwash Poudel served as the rapporteur of the workshop.
