Last week farmers from around Nepal gathered with representatives from the Department of Agriculture, the National Genebank, and international specialists in plant genetic resource conservation to discuss strategies to strengthen custodian farmers role in on-farm conservation in Nepal. Over three days, the meeting built connections between custodian farmers from different parts of Nepal, raised their voices by bringing their perspectives to policy-makers and scientists, and developed the dialogue about custodian farmers that was initiated earlier this year at a workshop in New Delhi, India.

An overarching theme of the discussions was consolidating the role of custodian farmers with different strengths by connecting them through community-level institutions. An important element in this discussion was gender, as men and women often hold different responsibilities in a household, which means they can play different roles as custodian farmers. About half of the farmers participating in the meeting were women and all-female discussion groups were carried out alongside mixed-gender discussion groups to encourage equal participation of men and women.

In group discussions, farmers developed a vision for their communities and country, including how they see custodian farmers’ role in the conservation of agricultural biodiversity. In parallel discussions, government representatives and scientists explored options to increase support for on-farm conservation and custodian farmers within the existing policy framework. Several attainable ideas were presented to strengthen the role of custodian farmers in on-farm conservation.

Other highlights from the meeting included the premiere of a documentary produced by LI-BIRD about custodian farmers in Nepal, a seed exchange wherein participating farmers displayed and exchanged seeds from their farms, and the sharing of experience from seed conservation projects in India (MSSRF), Spain (Red de Semillas), and the USA (Native Seeds/SEARCH). Farmers expressed a feeling of empowerment from attending the meeting and the sense of hope they have for farmers’ voices being heard in the future.

As Mr Som Bahadur Ale Magar (a young farmer from Fafarbari,Makwanpur, Nepal) put it: this workshop “enhanced farmers’ understanding on ways to improve conservation and use of crop diversity, an essential resource for creating options for future generations”. According to Ms Kumari Krishna (a farmer from Kachorwa, Bara, Nepal), the workshop promoted seed exchange among farmers from across Nepal, helped in sharing experiences and lessons on the use of traditional crops for more resilient production systems, and raised farmers self esteem, in particular that of women, by creating opportunities for them to speak in public and expressing their views to scientists and other participants.

The meeting “Enhancing the contribution of custodian farmers to the national plant genetic resource system in Nepal” took place 31 July to 2 August in Pokhara, Nepal. It was organized by LI-BIRD, Network for Agrobiodiversity Conservation in Nepal (NABIC Nepal) and Bioversity International, with the support of IFAD, CCAFS, and the European Commission.