The Himalayan nation’s wheat harvest is likely to exceed 2 million tons this fiscal year as a result of good weather during winter, said a senior government official.

The all-time high wheat harvest comes in succession to a bountiful paddy harvest last summer.

According to Nepal Agriculture Ministry Chief Statistician Krishna Regmi, this year’s harvest is expected to record a 7 percent increase as a result of good winter rainfall.

The wheat bounty is likely to increase farmer incomes, reduce Nepal’s import bill and cool down inflation.

Moreover, it will further propel the government’s targeted growth rate of 8 percent as Nepal is primarily dependent on farming. The Nepal Government will soon announce crop production estimates for 2018-19.

Nepal Wheat Production 2014-18

Following is Nepal’s wheat output over a period of four years:

• 2014-15 – 1.97 million tons
• 2015-16 – 1.73 million tons
• 2016-17 – 1.84 million tons
• 2017-18 – 1.93 million tons

Last year’s wheat output of 1.93 million tons was the second highest record in Nepal’s history despite a dry winter.

According to Regmi, snowfall was equally helpful in boosting the wheat produce in the hilly and mountains regions, besides the Tarai region.

Additionally, government officials attributed the bumper production to improved varieties of wheat seeds. Nearly 45 percent of Nepal’s wheat fields acreage is covered by improved seeds.

Also, there was no shortage of chemical fertilizers except in a few places this fiscal year, except in a few places, Regmi added. Insufficient soil fertilizers have been a significant cause of low productivity in the past.

Wheat is Nepal’s third most common cereal crop after paddy and maize.

Nepal’s Paddy Harvest 2018-19

As per Nepal Agriculture Ministry’s preliminary statistics, Nepal’s paddy harvest will likely touch an all-time high of 5.6 million tons this fiscal year. This will mark a 9 percent increase from the previous year.

This high output will be a result of the bountiful rainfall predicted this year. The Ministry’s statistics indicate that Nepal’s paddy productivity will increase to a record high of 3.8 tons per hectare this fiscal year, compared to 3.5 tons last year.

The country’s average productivity is 3 tons per hectare and this year’s paddy harvest is worth more than NPR 115 billion.

Nepal’s agriculture sector has a major contribution in its economy. The high level of wheat harvest is a great boost to Nepal’s economic growth.

The post FY 2018-19: Nepal Sets New Record in Wheat Harvest appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

The meeting is being held to evaluate his own government’s performance and will continue until November 23, 2018, as revealed by officials familiar with this process.

It will give Oli the time needed to weigh his ministers works who will be under the scanner for alleged financial irregularities, accusations of being responsible for the administration’s growing unpopularity and poor performance.

Oli’s Row of Questions
When the meeting started on November 21, 2018, Oli said that his ministers work culture has not improved at the top level and that he will not listen to any ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ from the cabinet ministers, a secretary present at the meeting shared.

“Why does it take months to shift one file from one government entity to another? I urge you all to work for visible change and results,” Oli further questioned.

As part of the Wednesday meeting, Oli evaluated Agriculture, Energy, Industry and Urban Development Ministries and the National Reconstruction Authority based on the progress reports they presented.

PM Oli has been going through each ministry’s report card and rating them based on their performance.

He continued to review budget expenditure, large infrastructure projects progress and if these ministers met policy and budget targets.

Ministers pointed at lack of inter-ministerial coordination and internal hiccups for failure of meeting budget expenditures in the previous four months.

Clearly displeased, Oli urged ministers to ensure the fulfillment of outstanding policy, program and budget targets along with increasing speed of work, Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada informed.

“I do not see any budgetary problems in carrying out and implementing projects,” Oli angrily questioned according to one of the secretaries.

He further asked the concerned ministers to inform him if the cabinet, ministers, secretaries or any laws and regulations were causing any delays.

“Why has there been no progress? Whatever the reasons are, we need results. I urge you not to be satisfied with the work you have done so far,” he asked.

The Prime Minister’s Office developed an app that monitors and evaluates various ministries projects.

As per the app, Ministries with above 80 percent progress rating get a green signal, 80-50 percent get a yellow signal and below 50 percent- red signal indicating their failure to achieve progress.

“I do not expect any red signals,” Prime Minister Oli said.

Poor Capital Expenditure
The government expressed displeasure with Nepal’s capital expenditure status in the first four months of FY 2018-19 after it was criticized for poor performance.

According to Finance Minister Yubaraj Khatiwada, about 19 percent of the capital budget was spent in the given period, which was close to 39 percent in the same period, last year.

“Although capital expenditure has increased, we are still not satisfied,” he said after a meeting with ministers and secretaries of development-related ministries today at the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers.

“Since the capital expenditure in the first four months of the last fiscal was poor due to elections, the 39 per cent increase in expenditure this year was not satisfactory,” Khatiwada added.

To address this, Khatiwada said that the government is planning to address all obstacles capital expenditure by mid-December and achieve the targeted expenditure by the end of FY 2018-19.

Khatiwada added that his ministry would not entertain funds demands from various sectors. “We shall only address rational demands,” Khatiwada said.

Nepal lawmakers and political leaders were depending on funds from the finance ministry to implement their pet projects in their respective constituencies.

Khatiwada shared, ministries also seek additional budget despite being unable to spend the allocated budget. “This should be discouraged, we should not allocate funds to programs that have not been included in the annual budget announcement. It will not be fair to taxpayers and donors,” he said.

The post Oli Turns Firms to Ministers, Evaluates Sector-wise Progress appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

Recent floods, which have been concerning various parts of Nepal since a week, have badly hit the country’s agricultural sector resulting in huge crop loss for the country.

The Ministry of Agricultural Development (MoAD) informed that floodwaters wiped out crops worth Rs 8.11 billion and inundated huge tracts of land across 31 districts (19 severely) of the country.

Put together the loss of livestock and damage of private food stores, officials project further loss amounting to billions.

“This is the first time that the entire country, except Kapilvastu, has been flooded at the same time,” said Rishi Ram Sharma, Director General of the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology.

Nepal is facing this situation at a time when the country’s agricultural economy is witnessing some signs of recovery since the last fiscal.

The World Bank had projected Nepal’s economic growth rate at 7.5 percent in the last fiscal year on the basis of rise in agricultural output due to a favorable monsoon, elimination of power cuts and higher government spending, among others.

However, the country’s agricultural sector takes a hit again with the recent floods. According to officials, impact of the recent floods would be high on farmer incomes & inflation and a fall in domestic production may also increase country’s agricultural imports (currently close to Rs 200 billion mark).

Government Hopeful About Paddy Output

Despite this weakening situation, MoAD bets big on paddy output. It projects paddy output at 5.4 million tonnes in the current fiscal year, above the record production of 5.2 million tonnes in the last fiscal year.

“The floods have shattered growth prospects. But we are confident that the paddy harvest will not be lower than last year’s level,” said Yogendra Kumar Karki, Ministry Spokesperson.

According to the Ministry, the recent floods damaged 270,406 hectares of standing crops of paddy, maize, pulses, banana and spices and wiped out fishes in 2,224 hectares.

Overall, paddy plantation suffered major damage worth Rs 3.18 billion, followed by vegetables (Rs 2.96 billion), fishes (Rs 800 million), pulses (Rs 536 million), turmeric (Rs 340 million) and maize (Rs 241 million).

MoAD projects the loss could be much higher with loss of food stored by people in their homes  included.

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