September 27: Nimbus, a leading Agro Enterprise of Nepal and China based Seed Company Wuhan Comega Seed has signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for selling and distribution of rice seed varieties and various other agricultural products in Nepal. Anand Bagaria, Managing Director of Nimbus and Shande Liu, Managing Director of Comega Seed signed the MoU on September 26 amidst a function organized in Kathmandu. 

According to the press statement issued by the company, Nimbus will be conducting marketing and distribution of seeds, pesticides and various other agricultural products. The Hybrid Rice varieties developed by Wuhan Comega viz., CRY-25 and CR 91 has shown the highest yield performance at the rate of 5.8 and 5.7 MT/Hectare, respectively. The results have been revealed in a report after a two years trial period done by Nepal Agricultural and Research Council (NARC), a government research wing which is also responsible for conducting mandatory trials before releasing any crops varieties in Nepal. NARC had done trials in 4 different geographical areas with 3 replica trials in each area. As per Nepal Government’s current data for fiscal year 2013-14, the average yield of hybrid rice varieties in Nepal is only 3.4 MT/ Hectare.

“Wuhan Comega Seed in conjunction with Nimbus and Government of Nepal will also provide technical and skilled knowledge to the technicians, commercial farmers in the country. The Chinese company will also train Nepalese manpower either in Nepal or China for various kind of human resource development. Varietal research and development of rice hybrid seeds will also be established in the country in association with Nimbus in future days and will be a milestone in Nepalese agriculture,” reads the statement.