Catalogue of promising crop varieties of mountain agriculture

In Nepal, agriculture is the business of 65 percent of the population. Yet the agricultural sector within Nepal is complex and geographically diverse, marked by farming systems that vary from each lowland, hill and mountain zone. Because of this complexity, farmers need a portfolio of diverse crop varieties with agro-morphological and agronomic traits. The need is even greater for mountain agriculture within Nepal. Limited efforts to develop/ breed crop varieties for this ecology leave farmers with little access to varietal information. 

This repository addresses this need, providing a catalogue of notified varieties and promising landraces of eight crops important for the high mountain agricultural zones of  Nepal. The catalogue's compilation of agromorphological characteristics and digital pictures aids in distinguishing the varieties, providing datasets that include the crop varieties, their trait combinations and supply sources.  

The catalogue is the result of the combined efforts of many plant breeders who were closely involved in crop improvement in Nepal from 1959 to 2016. The authors reviewed published literature, investigated old variety release proposals, searched gene bank records and contacted crop specific breeders and researchers in order to compile relevant information for this catalogue. 

Through this catalogue, the authors hope to provide information on crop varieties to farmers and all stakeholders - researchers, development professionals, planners and field staff - increasing the ability to maximize the benefits of public research investments and to serve as an important repository for varietal information of mountain crops of Nepal.