KATHMANDU, MARCH 15

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) initiated the groundwork for formulating the budget for the coming fiscal year 2022-23 with discussion with the agriculture sector stakeholders today.

Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini informed that discussions were held in the bid to give the message that government has initiated the process of formulating the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. 'The fact that the first discussion is being held with agriculture sector stakeholders should be evidence enough that the government has prioritised this sector.'

Despite the agriculture sector receiving high priority in every policy programme and budget of the government, the inability to ramp up agricultural production and increasing agricultural imports is a matter of concern and the concerned stakeholders should provide support to formulate policies and budget that are agriculture-friendly, he said. 'A large population is dependent on agriculture but their living standards have not improved as expected. We should seriously work to tackle this issue and expect appropriate suggestions for this from today's discussion,' he said.

Addressing the discussion, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma 'Prabhakar' informed the reason for collecting experts' feedback from agriculture stakeholders was because the sector has been given top priority.

'Instead of focusing on subsidies, the next budget will adopt the policy of providing incentives for farmers,' he said, adding that the discussion had been organised to gather suggestions on the best approach to achieve the said goal.

He stressed that despite adequate budget allocation for agriculture, it is not reaching the farmers due to which the problems exist in the sector. Citing an example of how government networks have been unable to effectively implement the budget, he said, 'The budget has been allocated according to the policy and programme of giving 80 per cent subsidy in premium to the agricultural insurers, but many farmers I have met said they were unaware of such a policy and have been unable to take the benefit.'

The experts who attended the discussion today suggested formulating a policy suitable for Nepali farmers. They emphasised on the need to facilitate exports, providing agricultural collateral-free loans of up to Rs five million, implementing land use policy, scaling up productivity, expanding research, among others.

Devika Budathoki, president of Nepal Entrepreneurial Women Federation, who participated in the discussion, said that the federation has been exporting Nepal's agricultural produce to various countries and urged the government to facilitate in raising more capital for investment. 'The collateral-free concessional loan of Rs 500,000 to Rs 1.5 million has helped many women to become financially independent,' she said, adding huge employment opportunities would open up for women in rural areas if the ceiling for such loans could be raised to Rs five million.

She informed of difficulties in conducting lab tests for export certification, and called for special loans to facilitate purchasing equipment for small-scale industries run by women.

Central member of the Federation of Nepali Chambers of Commerce and Industry Arun Raj Sumargi suggested to develop a research centre.

Entrepreneur Pawal Golyan said collateral-free loans of Rs five million is needed in agriculture sector and his bank (NMB Bank) is ready to invest its bank loan if the government formulates relevant policy. 'Policies that encourage farmers rather than only entrepreneurs would go a long way in development of the sector.'

Meanwhile, former vice-chairman of National Planning Commission Dipendra Bahadur Chhetri suggested the government to take the responsibility for implementation of utilisation policy after fixing the minimum support price and increase production by learning from the neighbouring countries.

A version of this article appears in the print on March 16, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.