Kathmandu

Almost all of us grew up reading over and over about how Nepal is an agricultural country. In school, it was and still is the most popular introductory line to describe Nepal. Out of the 147,181 square kilometres that it covers, about 2/7th of the land is cultivable, whereas about 70 per cent of the total population make their way of living by agriculture. The agriculture sector contributes to more than one-third of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which shows that it is the major sector for Nepali economy. But the performance of this sector has been inadequate to meet the increasing food demand and livelihood needs of Nepal’s growing population.

Neglect and abandon

The agriculture sector plays a crucial role in increasing income, alleviating poverty and uplifting the living standard of the Nepali people. According to Dev Bhakta Shakya, IFPRI (The International Food Policy Research Institute) consultant in Nepal, agriculture is slowly being commercialised but only in small levels. “The pace that we are moving forward in is very slow. For this sector to improve, commercialisation must take place in the national level. However, the right environment has not been created for farmers to commercialise it,” he opined.

According to Shakya, there are a lot of initiatives to be taken in the national level to compete in the world market. Shakya said, “I have been working in this sector for more than 30 years now and I can tell you that there has been growth of late as compared to the past, but, we as a country, can do so much better.” He continued, “First of all, people engaged in farming and agriculture must put in collective effort to improve this sector. Along with that, the government must also do what’s required without hesitation.”

Needless to say, the agriculture sector has been and remains neglected in Nepal. Lack of appropriate education and training, and farmers still using the same old-fashioned methods of farming that yield less; unavailability and inaccessibility of newer techniques are some of the major problems seen in this sector. Irrigation, the basic infrastructural requirement for agriculture development, is another factor that creates major hurdles for this sector to bloom.

However, it is not just the absence of irrigation facilities that mar the sector’s development, it is also the unawareness of such facilities and its usage among farmers that create further difficulties. According to Statistical Information on Nepalese Agriculture, more than 60 per cent of Nepali farmers are estimated to have never heard of irrigation system, hence, still depending upon rainwater for cultivation.

The other major factor that curbs this sector’s growth is that Nepali agriculture sector lacks quality products and establishment of Sanitary and Phyto Sanitary (SPS) as per the World Trade Organisation requirements. Moreover, problems such as lack of accredited laboratory, weak institutional mechanisms to support agro-based export oriented enterprises, weak implementation of laws and rules of the government, weak operation and limited agro-processing centres in Nepal have adversely affected farmers and the sector.

Lackadaisical response

Gopal Tiwari, a senior economist and the Secretary General of Nepal Economic Association (NEA), informed that till the fiscal year 2015/16, about 395 agriculture related industries have been registered, representing six per cent of the total industries, promising to generate about 33 million jobs covering six per cent of potential employment. “Even the Ministry of Finance (MoF) report of 2016 states that arrangements for technology and equipment for increasing production and productivity, skilled human resource, improved seeds and fertilisers, agriculture extension, marketing of products and maintaining quality and modernising and commercialising agriculture sector are some of the challenges we face,” Tiwari said.

In Nepal, technology is limited within the books and exam papers, and is hardly put to use in the field. Ram KC, an agriculture entrepreneur who is currently busy with issues of grassland at Madi, Chitwan, said, “There is lack of investment and skills in this sector.” According to him, agriculture is not just something done in a small area of land with whatever resources available. “You can’t call it agriculture if it is done in one or two ropanis of land. Agriculture is vast and you need thousands of ropanis for it. Yes, we do have enough land, but we don’t have the right policies guiding us.”

Development of the agriculture sector is key to boost the national economy. Realisation of the need to enhance this crucial sector for the overall betterment of the country’s economic status is present, but the unwillingness to act upon this realisation and to tackle the problems still has the upper hand. It may be due to lack of capital, entrepreneurship, enthusiasm and devotion towards agriculture that stunts the growth of its agriculturally sustainable vision that Nepal so proudly teaches its young.