Nepal

The vast majority of Nepal’s population—80 percent of whom live in rural areas—derives their livelihood from agriculture. Despite a decrease in recent years, agriculture’s contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) still amounts to one-third. The national government stresses the importance of agriculture to the national economy and food security; however, several decades of uneven institutional development has resulted in an ineicient agricultural research system that sufers from instability and uncertainty (NARC 2010). The completion of the World Bank–inanced Agricultural Research and Extension Project (AREP) in 2002 prompted an overall decline in agricultural research and development (R&D) expenditures in Nepal.