Researcher in Nepal to seed growth of horticulture
Published on 19 January, 2009
CQUniversity researcher Dr Surya P. Bhattarai travelled to Nepal over the Christmas break to present a paper during an international seminar on 'Local Infrastructure Development: Challenges and Opportunities'.
The Centre for Plant and Water Science researcher was a guest at the event organised by the Nepalese Department of Local Infrastructure Development and Agricultural Roads.
His presentation was about 'Agricultural Roads Development Initiatives for Market-Oriented Horticulture in Nepal'.
"The seminar was attended by about 700 participants from Nepal and overseas," Dr Bhattarai said.
"They presented papers on issues of sustainable agricultural development, gender issues, infrastructure networks, including agriculture roads, and various aspects of natural resource and environmental management issues.
"Nepal's agriculture is still subsistence-oriented and there are enormous opportunities for commercialisation of agriculture for import substitution and export promotion."
Dr Bhattarai's presentation incorporated his research experiences across more than a decade of the horticulture industry in Nepal as well as Australian experiences of commercial horticulture industries and water resources management for irrigation.
"It was a great opportunity to present a paper in such a multidisciplinary forum and linking the income generating agriculture with the rural infrastructures in a holistic perspective," he said.
Dr Bhattarai acting as rapporteur of the technical session
The presentation by Dr Bhattarai was highly appreciated by participants and drew substantial attention of agricultural and infrastructure policy makers in Nepal. The CQUniversity visitor also acted as a rapporteur for one of the technical sessions.
"I had the chance to interact with a number of people and was also able to spread information regarding CQUniversity collaborative research, education and outreach programs that support sustainable development of developing countries including Nepal," Dr Bhattarai said.