Rs 60m allotted for organic fertiliser plants

KATHMANDU, MAY 15 -

The Ministry of Agriculture Development (MoAD) on Tuesday said Rs 60 million has been earmarked to set up organic fertiliser plants in five development regions in a bid to encourage chemical-free farm products.

“The government has planned setting up the plants in five development regions each under the public-private participation model,” said MoAD Spokesperson Prabhakar Pathak at a programme organised by Lumbini Agro Organic Fertiliser Company, which has started commercial production of organic fertilisers under Japanese technology.

According to Pathak, the government is also preparing a “compost fertiliser promotion policy” and related action plans. The demand for organic farm produce is increasing by the day, but farmers are not being able to get required amount of organic fertilisers.

Participants of the programme said there are around 20 small-scale organic fertiliser plants in the country and their production is not sufficient to meet the growing demand. Many of them produce vermin-compost fertiliser that is prepared from earthworm, while others produce bio-mass-based organic fertilisers. However, the country lacks plants that produce organic fertiliser in commercial scale.

According to Pathak, increased use of chemical fertilisers has not only affected the environment and human health, but has also reduced farm productivity. “Besides, the country is also losing a huge amount of foreign currency for the import of chemical fertilisers,” he said, adding that on the other hand, distribution of state-subsidized fertilizers has not reached to the targeted groups.

The Trade and Export Promotion Centre (TEPC) statistics show import of chemical fertilisers is increasing at an alarming rate. The stats show Nepal imported chemical fertilisers worth Rs 11.47 billion in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, up from Rs 8.82 billion in the same period last year.

In order to promote organic fertiliser, the government has been providing 50 percent subsidy on purchase of equipment required for setting up production plants. The government has also been issuing organic certification to producers.

Lumbini Agro Organic Fertiliser Company said it uses fermentation technology using enzyme to produce organic fertilisers. The company claimed that the Japanese technology is the first of its kind in Nepal.

Lumbini Agro Chairman Chandra Man Shrestha said they were using locally available raw materials like animal waste and bi-products of agro industries to produce organic fertiliser. “We produce up to a tonne a day and plan to upgrade production to 10 tonnes daily within a few months.”

Source: The Kathmandu POst