Agriculture Development Strategy not realistic: Lawmakers

KATHMANDU, Sept 9:

Lawmakers have criticized the Agriculture Development Strategy (ADS), saying that the vision paper is not realistic in Nepali context and that it fails to address essential components like proper land use policy, irrigation, and need of special pocket areas for farming particular agro products.

Members of the Agriculture and Water Resources Committee of legislature-parliament also said that the 20-year vision paper is influenced by donor agencies.

Kashinath Adhikari, a member of the committee, said the vision paper is silent on pressing agricultural issues like swelling import of agro product and land policy among others.
Nepal imported farm products worth over Rs 100 billion in the last fiscal year.

Different donor agencies like Asian Development Bank and European Union, among others, assisted in the preparation of this vision document.

CA members have been holding discussion on ADS prepared by the Ministry of Agricultural Development. The document is yet to be endorsed by the cabinet.

Amrit Kumar Bohora of CPN-UML said the document lacks the policy to encourage youth into farming. He also said donors overlooked Nepal´s geographical and ecological diversity while preparing the vision document.

Lawmaker Laxmi Prasad Pokharel said there is a need to protect agriculture from foreign influence. “The cases of crop failure due to use of faulty seeds are rising.

This is happening despite using seeds recommended by the concerned government agencies,” he said, and suggested to the government to select special pocket areas for cultivation of selected crops and fruits.

Another lawmaker Prakash Sharan Mahat said the government should first conduct soil test and study the availability of irrigation facilities before declaring pocket areas for certain crops.

Similarly, lawmaker Rekha Sharma suggested to the government to include effective distribution mechanism in the strategy document so that farmers get more benefits.

Lawmakers Man Bahadur Tharu, Sudhir Kumar Shivakoti, Ananda Prasad Pokhrel, and Rameshwor Dhungel also presented their suggestions for the vision document. They also said the new vision paper should not meet the fate of Agricultural Perspective Plan 1995-2015 which is still limited to papers only.

Talking to Republica, agricultural expert Bhairab Raj Kaini, said it would not be appropriate to say that the vision document is influenced by the development partners without implementing it. “Necessary amendments can be made in the document in course of implementation,” he added.

He also said the Agriculture Perspective Plan remained unimplemented due to lack of sufficient resources and needful manpower, among others. “Donors had nothing to do with it,” he maintained.

´Private Sector investment undervalued in ADS´
KATHMANDU (REPUBLICA): Though statistics shows private sector make over two-thirds of total investment in agricultural sector, the Agricultural Development Strategy (ADS) says private sector investment will be limited to around 11 percent.

The vision paper states that government and foreign investors will jointly inject Rs 45.5 billion in the agricultural sector annually. It estimates investment of the private sector at only around Rs 5.5 billion a year.

Speaking at the meeting of Agriculture and Water Resources Committee of the legislature-parliament on Tuesday, vice chairman of National Planning Commission Govind Raj Pokharel accepted that the role of private sector has not been duly recognized in the strategy. “We have already given our suggestions to the Ministry of Agricultural Development, asking the latter match the contribution from the private sector,” he added.

Similarly, agricultural expert Bhairab Raj Kaini, said ADS emphasizes attracting FDI in agriculture sector but undermines investment from the private sector.

Former Finance Secretary Rameshore Khanal said private sector´s investment in agriculture sector stands at around 70 percent of the total investment in the sector. “Combined investment of individual farmers and the private and corporate sector stands at well above 90 percent,” he added.

Source: Republica