We met Dal Bahadur Kandel, a farmer in Sundwari village, during an ICIMOD/GRAPE team visit to Karnali Province, western Nepal, in November 2022. Kandel gave us a tour of his traditional farm, a 2,500-m2 property around his home. He showed us the different crops he was cultivating – gourds, melons, cauliflower, tomatoes – all to be sold at the local market. As he led us around, he pointed to his cattle shed, the containers in which he prepared jholmal (homemade bio-pesticide and bio-fertiliser), and the greenhouse tunnel that he had acquired through government support, where he was growing tomatoes.

Kandel was visibly concerned about the current batch of tomatoes. Very few fruits seemed to be setting. He had grave doubts about the quality of the seeds in the market, and he was unsure whether the tomato seeds he had planted this season were indeed of the variety advertised.

Farmers like Kandel across the country have to contend with adulterated seeds, poor-quality agricultural inputs, and limited access to agricultural extension services. To improve yields, farmers raise chemical inputs, but at heavy costs to the farm, soil, groundwater, the environment, and public health – and ultimately leading to rapidly diminishing returns.