Researchers in Nepal are supporting the efforts of mountain farmers to regain control over their lives, with funding from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). Since 1998, a research team from Resources Himalaya, a Kathmandu-based non-governmental organization, has been working with 45 men and women farmers from three sites in Nepal's remote Sankhuwasava District to learn how they manipulate crops to yield seeds with desirable genetic traits. The research team proposes to integrate simple technical breeding skills with local farming practices to maintain the purity of existing seed varieties.
