Kathmandu, March 23 Despite having the status of being an agricultural country, the import of agricultural products in the country has been increasing every year. Of several agricultural products that are being imported vegetables are the most imported product in the country. Import of fresh vegetables including roots, seeds and tubers has been rising each passing year. Although the government has introduced several plans and programmes to increase production and make the country self-sufficient, imports are way more than the country’s exports. In the first six months of the current fiscal year, the country imported fresh vegetables worth around Rs 14 billion, which is an of Rs three billion compared to imports in the corresponding period of the last fiscal. As per data of the Department of Customs (DoC), vegetables worth Rs 14.77 billion were imported in the first half of this fiscal as compared to imports worth Rs 11.36 billion in the same period of fiscal 2017-18. Among the vegetables that were imported potatoes and onions were the vegetables that were the most imported. According to DoC, around 78 million kg of onions (fresh and dry) and around 308,068 kg of fresh potatoes were imported in the first half of the current fiscal. The failure to implement plans and programmes to become self-sufficient in vegetables has increased the dependency of Nepalis on imports. Currently, the government has a programme under Prime Minister Agriculture Modernisation Project to become self-sufficient in vegetables. Besides, the government also has a programme to develop some districts as vegetable production zones. However, all these efforts are going in vain as there is lack of proper implementation and monitoring of such projects. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, the country is annually producing around four million tonnes of vegetables while the annual import of vegetables stands at around three billion tonnes. The ministry has said that less utilisation of productive areas and the changing demand of consumers are responsible for boosting imports. Similarly, the ministry has also pointed out that imports have been rising as domestic products are not able to compete with Indian products on prices. It has also mentioned that the lack of commercialisation and industrialisation in the agriculture sector as well as lack of project implementation and monitoring as some of the major reasons for domestic production not rising.