Vegetable Seed Production and Current Situation in Nepal

•   Over the last decade, around 50% of the domestic demand for the vegetable seeds was met by the domestic formal (government and private seed companies) sector.

•   The gap in demand of vegetable seeds is mostly met by imports and to some extent domestic informal sector  (farmer to farmer exchange, saved seeds, cross border informal seed supply)

•   Of the 2,000+ MT of vegetable seeds demand, around 3/4th of the total domestic demand in volume term is accounted by peas, (French) bean, onion, radish, cow pea and okra.

•   Cauliflower, cabbage, onion, radish and tomato are the top five vegetables in terms of area under cultivation, account for around 50% of the total area cultivated for vegetables in Nepal.

•   Radish and onion are important (in terms of vegetable seeds); in terms of cultivated area for vegetables and potential volume demand of commercial seed.

•   The current production of vegetable seeds (formal sector) would be less than half of the mentioned figure of around 950 mt (in 2008/9), i.e., around 400-450 mt. A trade survey in 2008/9, carried out by CEAPRED indicates that Kathmandu–based seed businesses bought not more than 340 mt of domestically produced vegetable seeds.

•   If five crops namely radish, broadleaf mustard, cress, peas and bean are excluded then it is estimated that over 80% of the domestic demand for seeds is met through imports.

•   Informal sources could account for anywhere from 30%-45% of the total vegetable seed consumed in Nepal, depending upon situation and circumstances

•   Most of these are introduced varieties of vegetables (cabbage, carrots, coriander, onion, spinach, tomato and zucchini) depend highly on imports. Indigenous varieties such as peas, cowpeas, radish, cucurbit crops, beans and rayo are lesser dependent on imports for seeds supply.

•   Taking an example of 2008/09:

•       Total estimated demand was 1,932 mt (VDD/ DoA),

•       Private / government sector supply was 957.3 mt (49.5%) (VDD/ DoA),

•       Formal imports: 407.8 mt (21.1%) (TEPC),

•       Data Gap comes to  566.9 mt (29.3%), which is met by informal channels and cross-border imports.