Kathmandu, March 1

Minister for Finance Yubaraj Khatiwada has said that commercial farming through cooperatives can make Nepal self-reliant in agriculture.

Addressing the Small Farmers’ Summit 2019, which concluded in the Capital today, Khatiwada said that cooperative farming ensures better production of agricultural goods through the use of technology and urged farmers to adopt the cooperative farming model in agriculture.

“Farmers should opt for commercial farming through different agriculture cooperatives. This will help increase production of agricultural goods in the country and make Nepal self-reliant in food in the future,” said Khatiwada.

Stating that the government’s strategy is to boost the production and productivity of farmers, the finance minister said that collective farming through cooperatives would help the government in providing irrigation, agriculture inputs, insurance, mechanisation and technological services to farmers effectively.

Citing that the agricultural production becomes competitive only if the cost of production falls, Khatiwada expressed his commitment to support farmers through all means. “The cooperatives sector along with the effective use of agricultural innovations and technology is crucial to reduce the cost of agricultural goods,” he added.

Finance Minister Khatiwada also stressed that local units of the government should give due priority to promote commercial and collective farming through the use of effective agricultural technologies.

Addressing the summit, Benny Omer, Israel’s ambassador to Nepal, said that Israel is ready to support agricultural development in Nepal. As per him, Israel has been providing training opportunities to Nepali farmers and sharing the expertise and technology of Israel in the agriculture sector of Nepal.

Meanwhile, the Small Farmers’ Summit 2019, which was held with the slogan of ‘Prosperity of Small Farmers: Transforming Agriculture and Developing Entrepreneurship’, concluded today with 14-point declaration.  Promotion of agricultural value chain in partnership with stakeholders to achieve sustainable development goals and create opportunity for social and economic prosperity of small farmers are some of the points of the declaration of the summit.