Cleft grafting can be used to produce plants that are resistant to a number of pests and diseases and are often higher yielding than the original. Tomato seedlings can be easily grafted onto resistant root stock of the wild eggplant (Solanum sysimbrifolium) to produce a disease-resistant and commercially viable crop.

Some of Nepal’s most lucrative vegetable cash crops, especially solanaceous crops such as tomato and eggplant, are particularly susceptible to attack by the root knot nematode, Meliodogyne spp, which costs Nepal’s farmers millions of rupees in losses annually. In recent years, farmers found that this pest was becoming prevalent and that they could not control it permanently using either cheap or eco-friendly solutions. Researchers and development officers took up the challenge and found that grafting technology could successfully control not only the root knot nematode but also wilting disease. As a bonus, they also found that grafting can increase the yield potential of the plants and improve the overall productivity of the land.

Arukharka -6, Syangja District, Nepal

WOCAT database reference: QT NEP 33

Location: Arukharka -6, Syangja District, Nepal

Technology area: <0.1 km²

Conservation measure(s): Agronomic

Land Use: Cropland, annual cropping

Stage of intervention: Income generation

Origin: Introduced through projects

Climate: Subhumid/subtropical

Related approach: Using the participatory market chain approach to help smallhold farmers market their produce (QA NEP 33)

Compiled by: Purusottam Gupta, IDE Nepal

Date: May 2011, updated March 2013

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• Tomato grafting