Issuing a press statement Friday, Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) said Australian envoy Susan Grace, Marion Michaud -- Attaché and Program Manager with EU Delegation in Nepal, and Mark Bailey -- Regional Counselor of Australian Aid (AusAid) visited the farming families in Darakh and Ram Shikhar Jhala VDCs where farmers have implemented the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) program. [break]
The program is being implemented with the support of FAO under the European Union-funded Food Facility Project (EUFF), the statement added.
The EUFF project is being implemented in 10 food insecure districts in Eastern, Central, Western and Far-western regions of the country to support about 106,000 poor and vulnerable farming families with agricultural inputs like seed, fertilizers, livestock and appropriate technology through training.
The SRI approach of rice cultivation introduced in Kailali district has increased farm production by almost two-fold as compared to the conventional approach.
During their visit, the senior level diplomats also interacted with the farmers on the usefulness of the SRI technology. The visiting diplomats also distributed vegetable and wheat seeds to the project beneficiaries.
FAO has already distributed 110.8 tons of maize, paddy and vegetable seeds to local poor families. It is planning to distribute additional 102.87 tons of wheat and vegetable seed in coming winter.
Organic agro farm in operation