KATHMANDU, Oct 19: Director of the USAID Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Safety (FSIL) and Professor at Purdue University, Haley Oliver, held a meeting with Vice Chancellor of Agricultural and Forestry University (AFU) along with the project team and University research leaders on Wednesday. The purpose of the meeting was to facilitate the recent ongoing project in Nepal. The Project is entitled ‘Drivers of safer food production and consumption in Nepal: Understanding the adoption of food safety practices and consumer consciousness in fresh produce’.

According to the press statement issued by AFU, the project is led by Tennessee State University (TSU) of the US and implemented in Nepal by AFU. The principal investigator (PI) of the project for FSIL- Nepal, Dr Aditya Khanal from TSU and co-investigators from Nepal were present in the event. Prior to the AFU visit, the FSIL-Nepal project team had meetings with the USAID-Nepal mission in Kathmandu, the Department of Agriculture (DOA) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Services, Nepal and with the NGO partner, Sahavagi in Chitwan. Similarly, in the meeting of FSIL-Nepal team with DOA at Harihar Bhawan, Director General of DOA, Dr.  Rewati Raman Poudel and Deputy Director General Ms. Januka Pandit, along and other DOA personnel, expressed their commitment to collaborate and facilitate project activities as a government stakeholder.

According to AFU, the overall goal of the project is to enhance the food safety economic research and outreach in Nepal in the fresh produce sector and facilitate prioritized decisions on food safety investments. Project PI Dr Khanal, an Associate Professor of Agricultural Economics at Tennessee State University, provided an overview of the FSIL-Nepal project and ongoing activities in Nepal. The USAID-Nepal missions were exhilarated and expressed thanks for the implementation of this project in Nepal and encouraged to collaborate with other ongoing USAID missions. The AFU meeting was coordinated by Assistant Professor Ram Hari Timilsina of AFU, who is leading the field implementation of the project in Nepal.

 
• USAID
 
• AFU
 
• food_safety