Hari Bahadur K.C.1* Sushma Adhikari2 and Shanta Karki3

1 Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, Gandaki Province

2 National Agriculture Census, Central Bureau of Statistics

3 Department of Agriculture, Government of Nepal *

Corresponding author’s E-mail: kchari2002@gmail.com

* Orcid ID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2013-9475

Abstract
Extension of horticulture sector has undergone restructuring together with the state restructuring that was started after Nepal adopted federal system of governance. Horticultural research is under federal government; the research centers are in each of the seven provinces, and they have the mandate to prioritize their research as per the needs of provinces. Horticultural farm centers that existed before the state restructuring were placed under provincial and federal governments. Gandaki and Lumbini Providences that had no share of a resource centers are establishing new provincial horticulture development centres, thus further highlighting their importance. Nine horticulture development centers that have nation-wide scope are kept under Federal structure and others are handed over to provinces. The National Centre for Fruit Development and its allied farms, National Centre for Potato, Vegetables and Spice Crops Development and its allied farms, provincial horticultural farms, district level and local level offices, and Prime Minister’s Agriculture Modernization Project (PMAMP) are responsible for extension programs. The PMAMP programs are also restructured so that pockets are operated by local level, blocks by district or province government and zones and super zones by the federal government. Few new horticultural farms are established and few of them have been restructured with additional mandates in the provinces. Provinces have developed horticultural programs and have launched through the farm centers and district level offices. Farm centers function as the resource centers of planting materials, demonstration sites, training and service delivery hubs. The major programs of the district offices are the establishment of resource centers (saplings and seed production) and technical support to them. Area expansion is another important function which is mainly covered by the local level through conditional grants from the federal government and the PMAMP. The coordination among research, education, and extension; and within three tiers of governments need strengthening and streamlining for the overall development of horticulture sector.

Keywords: Conditional grants, PMAMP, policies, resource materials, technology