Cereal crops have played major roles in addressing food security issues in Nepal. In recent years there have been fluctuations in crop production and demands situations due to various reasons. Thus, the present study aims to analyze the dynamics of major cereals productivity in Nepal from 1995 to 2014. Focus group discussions were done in mid-hills and tarai of Nepal in 2015. Percentage change, compound growth rate, annual rate of change, coefficient of variation, instability index were calculated to analyze results. The result shows that the area, production and productivity of major cereals had an increasing trend over the study period. The major factors contributing on productivity increase in cereal crops were irrigation facilities, use of improved and hybrid seeds, chemical fertilizer and better technical knowhow among the farmers. For effective adoption of research outputs to improve the productivity emphasis should also be given on promotion of public private partnership (PPP) in research and development.

Nepal is one of the top twenty countries where potato contributes substantially for the human diet. Enhancing adoption of improved potato varieties could impact on farmer's income, household food and nutritional security. As such, using a multistage sampling procedure, a study was conducted to assess the determinants of improved potato varieties adoption in Nepal covering 180 samples in four districts, two in hills and two in Tarai region. The study revealed that; Kavre and Bardiya districts in the hills and Tarai, respectively, were dominated by improved potato varieties adoption. On the other hand, Dhankuta and Jhapa in the hills and Tarai, respectively, were dominated by local potato varieties adoption. The informal seed sources followed by agro-vet and market were the major sources for improved varietal adoption. Farmers' accesses to training and formal seed sources were important factor determining improved potato varietal adoption. However, households with larger farm size were less likely to allocate more area for improved potato varieties as many of farmers were reluctant to take potato cultivation as agri-business and still follow subsistence farming. Potato R&D programs, therefore, need to strengthen formal seed system to enhance access to quality potato seeds and build producer's capacity through regular training and exposer visits in order to improve adoption of improved potato varieties in Nepal.

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Background: Wheat is the third important cereal after rice and maize in Nepal. Its yield suffers from several factors such as lack of reliable irrigation, inclement weather, incidence of disease and lack of improved technology. New virulence race Ug99 (Uganda-99) has threatened all available commercial wheat varieties around the world and Asia. Some of the popular varieties of wheat in Nepal are also getting susceptible to different diseases. Vijay is one of the recently released first Ug99-resistant improved wheat varieties for Terai region in Nepal. Nepal has put special emphasis on the seed production and diffusion of this variety to promote rapidly in the farmers' fields to mitigate the potential epidemics of newly emerging pathotype of stem rust (Ug99). This variety is being promoted by several organizations and seed companies' before and after its release. Therefore, this study was undertaken to know the seed supply of Vijay and identify the factors that are contributing for its commercialization.Methods: Sunsari, Morang, Rupandehi, Banke and Kailali districts were selected purposely representing Eastern, Western, Mid-western and Far-Western Terai regions of Nepal, respectively. Seed companies, agro-vets (input dealers) and cooperatives involved in Vijay seed multiplication and distribution in the respective districts were selected for the purpose of the study. From the list of agro-vets in respective study sites, a total of 87 wheat seed selling agro-vets were selected randomly as a sample. The sample survey covered 44% of the target population in both categories (dealers and non-dealers of national seed company). Out of total samples, 40% were national seed company dealer agro-vets, while 60% were non-dealers. Multivariate regression analysis was used to find out different factors responsible for commercialization of Vijay seed. Results:Results indicate that about 67% of the agro-vets were involved in Vijay seed trading and their average time of involvement was 2.65 years. Majority of the agro-vets perceived this variety performed better than other existing popular varieties such as Gautam, Bhrikuti, Aditya and Nepal 297. However, there was still gap in timely supply of the seed. Based on the estimated Certified-1 seed production in 2015/16, Vijay must cover 56.88% (11,943 ha) of total wheat area in Terai, but share of Vijay seed was about 22% of the total wheat seed sold by agro-vets in 2015/16. Nevertheless, it seems that this variety is getting popular in the study area compared to other improved wheat varieties in short time period. The factors influencing commercialization of Vijay were: agro-vets having dealership of national seed company, perception on comparative better performance of Vijay with Nepal 297, total quantity of wheat seed sold by agro-vets and total business transaction of the agro-vets. Moreover, other factors such as pre-release multiplication of Vijay variety by private seed companies and participation on seed related training have found positive contribution on its commercializati...