Additional Context: This information was collected as part of The Aid Report's original feature story, "'I had no choice but to go abroad': US aid cuts hit Nepal’s farmers." Reporter Yam Kumari Kandel looked into the effects of the termination of USAID's agricultural initiative Feed the Future on the lives of rural farming communities. This information was provided by Rudra Shrestha, former director of the Agriculture Inputs Program implemented by Winrock International, which was under the Feed the Future initiative.

The initiative to coordinate the supply of high quality seeds in Nepal — "Seeds Without Borders” — which aimed at developing crop varieties resilient to adverse climate conditions was halted along with the rest of the project's activities. He adds that, along with program closures, an uptick in unapproved seeds entering Nepal, which are often more accessible to farmers than local, high-quality varieties, add to the country's persistent challenges of agricultural productivity.

Source: Devex