"Improved seeds for vegetable production and income in Nepal," by Avery Julian Baker

MDP student Avery Julian Baker completed his summer 2019 summer practicum working on high-altitude agriculture in Tanahun, Nepal. Avery worked with the Nepalese NGO Asta-Ja Research and Development Center and one of its funders, GreaterGood.org.

"With the financial support of GreaterGood.org, Asta-Ja Research and Development Center began its “Seeds for Family Nutrition and Income Generation” project in Tanahun, Nepal in early March 2019. The following brief explores a subset of data from the midline evaluation period. GreaterGood.org is a non-profit organization based in the United States with a history of collaboration in Nepal with Asta-Ja; they are responsible for winning the grant funding used in this project. Asta-Ja is one of the most successful small NGOs in Nepal, with a long-standing history of development work since its inception in the 2010s. It is run entirely by a Nepali staff with the exception of outside consultants like myself."

"Seeds for Family Nutrition and Income Generation was created as an extension to previous Asta-Ja & GreaterGood projects. While previous endeavors dealt with water and infrastructure, this was the first agriculturally focused effort. It provided food, training and income-earning capacity for several hundred households to promote healthier living and establish a foundation for markets. Tanahun is a high-altitude village in the foothills of the Himalayas consisting of several hundred small villages and towns, with a small subset represented in this report."