Biotech in Nepal

Nepal, a small, landlocked country in South Asia that is home to Mount Everest, is starting research on agricultural biotechnology. While the pace of development is quite slow, initial achievements have been made in tissue culture, micro propagation, and biofertilizers. Scientists have expressed the need for an organized initiative in agricultural biotechnology, reports Durga Dhakal of the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science in Rampur, Nepal,  and Nanda Joshi of the Michigan State University.

In "Research and development of agricultural biotechnology in Nepal: A review", Dhakal and Joshi present the different biotech activities being carried out by public and private sector institutions. They note that lack of funds for research, institutional infrastructure including human resources, and lack of interest by industries to collaborate with research institutions are hindering biotech research and development in the country.

Email Durga Dhakal at deaniaas@wlink.com.np or read the full paper in the "Asian Biotechnology, Innovation and Development: Issues in Measurement and Collection of Statistics" published by the Research and Information System for Developing Countries.