When Shakuntala Chaudhary, owner of Chaudhary Agricultural Farm in Pokhara-13, started vegetable farming 12 years ago, she used to use chemical pesticides like other farmers.

But after seeing that the disease was not controlled by chemical pesticides, she started using biological pesticides 4 years ago.

'Earlier I used to use chemical pesticides. This does not mean that the disease is under control. I have been using organic pesticides for 4 years now,' she said, 'I have been using trichoderma for soil and onion, ginger and chillies for insects. She said, 'After receiving the training, it became easy to use organic pesticides.' In Nepal, this project is being implemented by the Central Agricultural Laboratory under the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development. Agricultural experts from four countries and representatives of FAO have gathered in Pokhara under this project.

Shanta Karki, head of the Central Agricultural Laboratory, said that the aim of the project is to reduce the disasters, floods, landslides and loss of biological diversity brought about by climate change in agriculture through natural-based problem solving measures. According to Parshuram Adhikari, biological pesticides expert of

laboratory, this project, which started from October 2023, will run until December 2025. It has trained 17 farmers from all the seven provinces in the production and use of organic pesticides. In the

workshop, Minister of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives of Gandaki Province, Padma GC Shrestha, expressed her concern that Nepal's agriculture has to deal with climate change, the increasing incidence of new diseases and insects, and the depletion of natural resources. "If we depend only on the use of chemical pesticides in such a challenge, soil, water, health and biodiversity will be at risk in the long run," she said, "we should prioritize natural biological control, plant-based pesticides, use of parasitic insects, crop diversification, and insect-friendly crop systems." She expressed her commitment to expand technology related to crop protection and move forward by partnering with international agencies, non-governmental organizations and the private sector.

Secretary of the Ministry Basudev Regmi said that the use of chemical pesticides is reducing the fertility of the soil and increasing the risk of non-communicable diseases. He said, 'Gandaki state government has introduced a program to encourage the use of organic fertilizers and organic pesticides. It has helped the farmers.

FAO's senior agricultural officer of the Asia Pacific region, Dr. Yuvakhadhwaj GC, said that it is not easy to register the organic pesticide industry in Nepal. There is no monitoring of the amount of chemical pesticides used in agriculture. There is no early warning system that an epidemic of disease and insects is coming,' he said, 'solutions based on nature are within everyone's reach, even farmers are available.' All the four countries are facing the same problem, since disease and insects are moving from one country to another, we have to move forward by coordinating actions to solve it.'

Head of Plant Quarantine and Pesticide Management Center Bholaraj Sapkota said that climate change, environmental pollution and destruction of biological diversity have made Nepal's agricultural system challenging. He suggested three ways to adopt the latest science-based measures. The first step is to arrange a quarantine to prevent disease and insects from entering. By doing this, they cannot move from one country to another and even from one place to another within the country. If the union and the state can do this work, disease and insects will be controlled to a large extent," he said. He added, 'The second way is to promote the use of good and reliable biological pesticides. The third solution is that if there is excessive use of chemical pesticides, the government should make arrangements to punish them.' She said, "After using organic pesticides, the quality of the soil has improved. Vegetables also taste better.