Government urged to allot 10 percent of budget to farm sector

KATHMANDU, JAN 07 -

Stakeholders have submitted a proposal to the team formulating the Agriculture Development Strategy (ADS) urging the government to allocate 10 percent of its annual budget to the farm sector.

The ADS is a roadmap for a 20-year vision and a 10-year planning horizon for Nepal’s agriculture . A collection of suggestions which have been presented for inclusion in the policy were made public for discussion here on Sunday.

Similarly, one of the recommendation is for removing state-subsidized fertilizers in the long term. “State subsidies on chemical fertilizers should stay in the short term, be reconsidered in the medium term and removed in the long term,” said the stakeholders. The government has also been advised to ensure that adequate infrastructure is in place to increase processing, marketing and value addition of farm produce and attract youth towards farming.

The 21-member ADS steering committee, which consists of representatives from the public, private and farm sectors, has been urged to promote transparency and accountability in the distribution of fertilizers and other agro allied products to ensure better productivity.

The ADS draft currently being prepared under four pillars—governance, productivity, commercialization and competitiveness—has suggested that the agriculture minister be nominated as deputy prime minister to devise a strategic plan for the agro sector. Currently, the agriculture sector provides employment to 66 percent of the country’s population and contributes about 36 percent to the GDP.

Under the proposed productivity indicator, suggestions has been included to encourage rain water harvesting and expand irrigation facilities to 75 percent of the cultivable areas in the hills so that crops can be produced during two seasons annually.

Suggestions for the Tarai include expanding irrigation to 90 percent of the farm land. In order to increase competitiveness in agro products, discounts and tax waivers on the import of seeds and farm equipment have been proposed.

Establishing an agriculture welfare fund, agriculture roads and agriculture pocket areas among other infrastructure, and discouraging the involvement of multinational companies and genetically modified (GMO) crops in the Nepali farm sector have also been recommended. However, no suggestions have been submitted to define the private sector’s role in the country’s farm sector.

Prabhakar Pathak, spokesperson of the Ministry of Agriculture Development, said that the ADS has been prepared as a common draft and that past mistakes will not be repeated. “We have learnt a lot from the Agriculture Perspective Plan (APP) that failed to yield positive outcomes.”

According to him, suggestions to make an appropriate farm policy will be included from all sectors so that that government will not repeat past mistakes.

The National Planning Commission (NPC) has also been playing a major role to suggest appropriate policy and strategies to boost the farm sector.

The NPC is yet to submit its suggestions.  “We have also asked for recommendation from all the concerned ministries to make an inclusive draft,” Pathak added.'

Source: The Kathmandu Post