Farmers’ Seed System in Nepal: Review of National Legislations

Seed regulatory frameworks in Nepal were reviewed from the perspective of farmers’ seed systems. Nepal has formulated 17 policy instruments (including draft bills) since 1988 when the first Seed Act came into effect. Of these, 16 are either on plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, or on seed or related to overall agriculture development in Nepal. Three out of 17 are actually draft bills: the first was formulated in 2002, the second in 2008 and the third is still in progress. The important finding from this policy review is that there are not any policy instruments which may be hindering or undermining farmers’ seed systems. Policy and practices both have been mostly supportive or at least neutral to informal seed systems and as a result Nepalese seed systems enjoy great flexibility.