Our average national corn yield is 2.5 metric tonnes, compared to 6 to 7 in China and 10 in the United Stales. We cannot make such a quantum jump by depending on local varieties,” says Suroj Pokhrel, programme director at the Crop Development Directorate, in his office in Kathmandu. This marks a shift away from what once prevailed in local farming communities. In the past, there were only local varieties, sometimes called ‘landraces,’ that birds, insects and the wind would randomly pollinate.