Import of agro products mounts to whopping Rs 33.38 billion

KATHMANDU, July 5:

Though Nepal is known as an agricultural country, the import of agro products has been increasing. It is gradually converting into a ´food-importing´ country, according to experts.

´The monsoon-based cultivation system, poor linkage to the market and flight of youths for foreign employment are emerging as the major barrier of the commercialization of agriculture,” Dr Hari Krishna Upadhyaya, chairperson of the Center for Environmental and Agricultural Policy, Research, Extension and Development (CEAPRED) told Republica.

“Increasing import of agro products can be substituted, but we need proper policy and adequate incentives to farmers.”

The country has been losing huge amount of money by importing agro commodities that can be produced domestically. Of the total import of Rs 584,3999 million in the first ten month of the current fiscal year, Rs 33,380 million was spent for the import agro products such as rice, fresh vegetables, potato, oilcake and soybean alone, and the volume of import is increasing each passing year.

The import of vegetables increased by 31.4 percent in the first ten months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

The country had imported vegetables worth Rs 5422.8 million in the first ten month of the fiscal year 2012/13, which climbed to Rs 7126 million in the same period of current fiscal year. Increasing import of the vegetable shows the lower production inside the country.

Likewise, import of maize and rice also grown by 33.7 and 12.9 percent respectively to Rs 4973.4 million and Rs 13680 million.

The import of soybean and potato has increased by 32.9 and 24.6 percent respectively to Rs 12,537.8 million and Rs 3084.3 million.

Now the country is also importing the products such as ginger and lentils, which Nepal Trade Integration Strategy (NTIS) has prioritized as export products. NTIS products have aimed to export with high value addition and the government has been investing for the development of such products.

“The government is gearing up to support commercial farming, proper utilization of arable land, expansion of irrigation facilities and agriculture services and high quality seed as well as supply of fertilizers on time to boost agriculture productivity,” said Jay Mukund Khanal secretary of the Ministry of Agricultural Development (MoAD).

The country imported oilcake, which is used to make pellet feed, worth Rs 4516.4 million in the first ten month of the current fiscal year.

Nepal has been importing rice and maize from India. “Imported food from India is cheaper than produced in Nepal,” Posh Raj Pandey, executive chairman of the South Asia Watch on Trade Economics and Environment (SAWTEE) said, “Deindustrialization of manufacturing industries should not be repeated in the agro sector.”

Pandey urged the government to offer better subsidy to the farmers to encourage them to produce more. After the accession in the World Trade Centre (WTO) in 2004, Nepal has opened up its market. But as the country´s manufacturing industries failed to be competitive, the government devised the policy of deindustrialization.

Growing dependency on import for agro-products has also been raising Nepal´s trade deficit. But the government is yet to come up with measures to reduce our dependence on imported agro-products.

Source: Republica