A seminar was jointly organised on 5 October 2017 by Prolinnova-Nepal and Rarahil Memorial School, a secondary school in Kathmandu. The event was held in the school hall. Two students of agriculture from Mahendra Ratna Multiple Campus in Ilam District of East Nepal made presentations. Ms Salina Maharjan presented on “Agricultural Education in Nepal” highlighting information on different academic programmes, universities that offer these educational programmes and opportunities for agricultural graduates in Nepal. Ms Dikshya Maharjan presented on “Local Innovation for Agricultural Development”. She talked about different agricultural problems and local innovations developed by small-scale farmers to solve these problems, and about participatory innovation development (PID) as a means of improving these innovations through a multi-actor process. She also highlighted Prolinnova Nepal’s work in identifying and documenting local innovations, in integrating the PID approach into education and research and in developing the capacity farmers and youth in the approach. After these presentations, the floor was opened for discussion and comments. Writer Rajendra Maharjan expressed his happiness on the presentations by two agricultural students. Chief guest and Prolinnova-Nepal coordinator, Dharma Dangol, expressed his willingness to work together with farmers and youth to build capacity in documentation and promotion of local innovation, and with academic institutions to help teachers and students learn more about farmer-led innovation development. Of the 32 participants, 16 were women and included several school principals and teachers, writers, staff of international development organisations, staff of the Natural History Museum of Kathmandu, students of agriculture, local farmers, farmer innovators, journalists and a TV channel. The programme was sponsored by Mr Bal Krishna Maharjan, general secretary of an NGO network in Nepal.
