The Ministry came to this conclusion after amassing reports that rice in 67,919 hectares of the land went to waste due to the rains in Sudurpaschim, Lumbini, and Province 1.

The Ministry’s spokesman Prakash Sanjel stated that the loss for the damaged rice is NPR 7.22 billion.

The Ministry identified that Lumbini province–Bardiya, Kapilvastu, Banke, and Rupandehi were the worst affected districts. The Lumbini district suffered the biggest loss as per the Ministry.

The Ministry spokesman opined that the losses might increase as the district authorities are all continuing to report the losses.

The rains were so disastrous that over 100 people have died in floods, landslides, and submersions that happened over recent times.

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The post Rainfalls cause billions of farming losses appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

However, few farmers in the Terai diverged from the tradition and instead opted for modern plantation techniques to place the saplings.

However, this is not the first time that Nepali farmers have ditched traditional practices for mechanical farming methodologies.

Megh Nath Timalsena, an officer of the Prime Minister Agriculture Modernisation Project (Project Implementation Unit, Chitwan), stated Nepali has been farming with mechanical assistance since 2014.

“When I was in Jhapa, one Hari Silwal had returned to Nepal after studying in Europe. He might have observed and learned the European style and agricultural technologies there; hence he brought with him a four-wheel-drive riding-type rice planter, a combined harvester, and 5,000+ plastic trays. In 2014, he introduced them in the Kankai Municipality of Jhapa,” he said.

Megh Nath is currently posted in Chitwan, and there, farmers have already shifted to modern farming. However, Nepal’s efforts to modernize the farming methods are stunted by the high costs of the machinery. Although the mechanization drive is being implemented across all the districts, stakeholders are shirking away from the drive due to the high investment values.

Understanding these concerns, the government kicked off the drive with the PM Agriculture Modernization Project (PMAMP) a decade ago. Despite being armed with a budget of NPR 130 billion, the project has failed to realize its full potential due to political instability and headwinds.

1) Reaping Rewards from Modernization

Change is never fully embraced by all, especially in the Himalayan nation, where Nepalis have farmed with their bare hands and toiled under the sun to reap their harvest. However, with the introduction of modern farming methods, some people became the early adopters of the technology.

“Traditional methods are precious, and we should definitely respect them, but modernization in agriculture is important to adopt new ways and result in efficient harvest,” said Megh Nath.

But, does the Himalayan nation need farming mechanization, which would render the traditional methods obsolete? PMAMP Director Baikuntha Adhikari answered it with a resounding yes. “The whole agricultural scenario has seen a decline in Nepal. There are physical risks involved, which drives people away naturally. Agriculture also requires more labor, so people today refrain from that. And on top of all, people now have new, better, easier sources of income, driving them further away,” he opined.

“So, in this scenario, we need mechanization not just to maximize the human resources we have but also to maximize the productivity and make it uniform.”

Agricultural engineer Sandesh Poudel, who works with PMAMP, concurred with the Director’s observation.“The machines can decrease the labor input, making farmers more efficient and resulting in more harvest. This in return makes them independent.” As Poudel explained, in an instance, the plantation machine plants six saplings instead of one sapling at the moment.

Also, another helpful machine which is gained admiration from Nepali is the bailer machine which collects hay and bundles them into bales. These bales are retailed as cattle fodder and utilized for mushroom farming. All this collection and packaging is done by one machine alone, which would require a lot of manpower. The reduction of the workforce is saving a lot of time and money. With an increment in savings, modern farming has become a lucrative deal for most.

As per the PMAMP data, corn farmers of Chitwan saw a reduction in seed sowing expenses. The data reflected that the costs were trimmed by 14 to 25 percent, and labor expenses were halved. The data is buttressed by another finding in Bardiya, where farmers witnessed 70 percent labor expenses wiped away by the usage of machinery.

In Manang, Mustang, and Jumla, farmers saw a 1,000 percent jump in apple production, and farmers of Bardiya, Nuwakot, Sindhupalchok, and Dadeldhura experienced better productivity of potatoes.

Although Nepal introduced modern farming techniques six years ago, no comprehensive study was conducted on how modernization impacted the farmers. “Nevertheless, in the recent chaite dhan (winter paddy) harvest, we saw a 5 to 10 percent increase in production. But, because the crops were earlier treated with saltwater, that might have increased the production too,” said Poudel.

Compounding the adopting hindrances is the hesitation of the laggards. Although farmers are aware of the benefits, the hesitation and lack of inertia are slowing the adoption drive.“We are still in the adaptation phase. Many are reluctant to change. Those who have changed their ways are benefitting, but full adaptation will still take time and strong advocacy to accelerate the transitions,” said Poudel.

2) The Adoption

The PMAMP stated that Nepal was using different types of machinery as per the requirements. The machines were used in different stages. From farming to marketing, farmers have integrated modern machinery with their farming methods.

As the project data reflects, up to the financial year of 2019/20, 2,368 machines were in use. The harvester, thresher, reaper, and transporter machinery themselves account for 120 units.

As per the early adopters, the machinery which Nepalis prefer to use comes from Japan and Korea. To be specific, the Japanese technology machines are manufactured in Korea and used by Nepalis. As Megh Nath put it, this is Japan-Korea machinery is prevalent in most of South Asia.

3) Cost Concerns

Although the benefits outweigh the costs of the machinery, most farmers balk at the steep costs of the machinery. Most of the machinery used today for farming was procured by the farmers with the help of the government.

“They need government sponsorship or heavy subsidiaries to be able to use it. In Jhapa, the authorities gave machines with 85 percent aid,” an official says.

“Farmers cannot afford it. A single heavy machine is heavy and costs an investment of two million rupees. Also, because the machines are used only for around a month and shelved for the next 11 months, it gives a low return in investment (or ROI) and more burden to the farmers to buy on their own,” the official adds.

Also, the farmers are frugal and smart with the machinery usage. For instance, Surya Bogati procured a harvester by roping in other farmers of the area. “It has been five to seven years that we have been using it. It takes four hours to cover two bighas of land.”

Underscoring the lack of monetary resources, Megh Nath said, “The government only distributes seeds and organizes occasional training, which is not enough. If we are to accelerate the modernization, we need the proper equipment.”

PMAMP Director was non-committal, however. He said, “There are many factors starting from the budget itself. In five years, the project has spent some 61 percent of the budget, but the mobilization of the resources is not satisfactory.”

4) The Future

The Director did admit that the project failed to meet the expectations of the agricultural stakeholders. “It came into existence to introduce modern approaches in the Nepali agriculture space. The project aimed to better the production, make Nepal self-sufficient, and promote the agro-economy of the country. For this mechanization, modernization and alternative agricultural approaches have been pushed forward simultaneously,” he stated.

“But, not just the people outside but those within the organization are not fully in sync with the organization view. On top of that, the ecosystem among the departments of the Agriculture Ministry and other ministries [roads, infrastructure development] also has been poor, and it has resulted in us lagging behind our work. Everyone thinks it is our responsibility alone; there is no coordination that we need.”

He elaborated by saying that the stormy political winds of Nepal have compounded the execution of the project. To make matters much more complicated were the frequent changes of the project team. With so many changes, the PMAMP is mired in various implementation problems despite its noble goal.

Buttressing the execution issues perspective was the Director’s statement where he stated the department cannot fulfill the objectives of the project. “With today’s graph, we can sadly only achieve 70 percent of the objective.”

“But, we still have five years. If we can change our ways, mobilize the resources, get all the stakeholders from ministries to the local level to coordinate, and even get the additional budget, the original objective of the project can be achieved. We can only hope.”

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As the latest reports say, different schemes under the 10-year-long ‘Prime Minister Agriculture Modernization Project’ are giving positive results for the country’s potato farming.

As a result, more number of farmers are inclining towards commercial potato farming availing the government schemes and increasing farming mechanization benefits.

With this, farmers could double their potato production year-on-year while significantly minimizing production costs in farming.

Kamal Rural Municipality is one locality that benefited the most out of this scheme and emerged as a ‘potato pocket’ zone. Potato cultivation in this area has seen a two-fold rise in this region from 35 dedicated farmers last year to 60 farmers this year.

A special potato management committee has been formed under this project to help farmers plant seeds using potato planters. “The committee also helps farmers harvest their produce by using a potato harvester without charging them any extra cost for the machine,” says Yam Bahadur Rai, chairman of the committee.

According to Tanka Kattel, a facilitator of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Agriculture Cooperative, the committee helps farmers to also sell their products upon harvest.

We have received 50 percent of subsidy on potato seeds, and the committee has been helping us with potato transplanter and harvester which have significantly reduced our costs of production,” says Durga Prasad Parajuli, a local farmer in Kamal Rural Municipality.

While it takes a day to plant a potato in a katta of Nepali land using traditional methods, it takes only 20 minutes to do the same with the machine.

“The potato planter saves time and costs significantly. Almost 75 percent of our costs are cut down, and because of this more and more farmers are willing to grow potatoes for a living,” says Govinda Shrestha, another local farmer.

The NPR 130 billion project envisages adoption of modern farm techniques to boost productivity and increase the country’s self-reliance in food.

Wish the project implemented in 2016 will go a long way ahead to benefiting the Nepali farming community!

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As a result, Nepali farmers are preparing to harvest the largest-ever paddy crop in this fiscal year, said the Nepali Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoA&LD).

According to the Ministry Secretary Yubak Dhoj GC, this year’s paddy harvest is expected to reach 5.66 million tons, showing a 10 percent year-on-year growth.

Officials state that this record harvest is going to curtail the rice import bill and also contribute to government’s overall economic growth target.

GC further informed that paddy transplantation was successful in more than 95 percent of the country’s 1 1.55 million hectares of rice fields in this fiscal.

With regard to supporting raw material, none of the key paddy-producing areas, especially the country’s food basket Tarai, reported shortage of chemical fertilizers.

Due to timely and regular monsoon, productivity has increased. There were no disease outbreaks and floods either. At the same time, we expect the country will be removed from the food deficit list this year   –  Yubak Dhoj GC, Ministry of Agriculture, Nepal

He further stated that this progress in the agriculture sector will help Nepal Government to achieve its 8 percent economic growth target, given the fact that the country is largely agriculture-dependent i.e. worth NPR 3 trillion.

So, monsoons mean a lot for the country as only 30 percent of its farmland currently has round-the-year irrigation facility.

“If we can increase the round-the-year irrigation coverage to 80 percent of the land, we can potentially produce around 10 million tons of paddy annually,” says the Secretary.

While the country’s monsoon season is from June-September, there was an early arrival this year two days prior to the regular case.

The harvest in this fiscal is going to be an encouragement and recovery from the previous year’s number that took a hit due to severe floods in August 2017 in around 31 districts.

It was lastly in 2016-17 that the country saw its record harvest of 5.23 million tons and is eagerly waiting for its new high of 5.66 million tons!

The post Nepal Expects Record Agri Harvest in 2018-19 appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

The initiative, a joint implementation of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Government of Nepal, aims to come up with innovative solutions to ensure fair market opportunities for the country’s farming community and their agricultural produce.

CMDP is expected to form a strong base for an effective market chain for Nepal’s agricultural produce including thus enhancing farmer income and their living.

“The active engagement and financing from the Ministry of Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation shows strong commitment, leadership and ownership of the program. This partnership will directly benefit thousands of Nepali farmers over the next five years, through crucial support in modernizing their production and market chain,” says Renaud Meyer, Country Director, UNDP Nepal.

The program will focus on six districts near Kathmandu area owing to the prevalence of poor infrastructure, improper storage and transport facilities, inadequate market access and regulatory concerns issues.

This situation prevails despite a good number of farmers’ cooperative groups in the area.

Supporting UN Goals

Besides supporting market infrastructure, the program also aims at quality and quantity enhancement, while also ensuring consistency in supply of the agricultural produce.

As part of skill development, the initiative also focuses on training farmers on better techniques, building their marketing and institutional capacities.

Overall, the initiative is expected to benefit around 14,000 farmers and their families, thus also supplementing to the South Asian country’s implementation of UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1 and 2 on fighting poverty and achieving food security.

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With this, Nepal is set to become the second country in the world, after India, to introduce such policy to promote forestry that boosts the agriculture sector.

“Agroforestry should be promoted in Nepal because of our larger forest coverage, which is greater than neighboring India, and in recent times untilled land is increasing in the country. We should utilize the barren land through agroforestry,” said Yubak Dhoj GC, Secretary at the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation at a policy dialogue program in Kathmandu on November 04, 2017.

Adopting agroforestry is very feasible in Nepal owing to the country’s 45 percent forest coverage of the total area, he added.

A Step Ahead from Declaration Made in 2015

While India adopted its National Agroforestry Policy in 2014, Nepal started its background activity to support such policy three years ago. In 2015, the then Government of Nepal had also endorsed the ‘Kathmandu Declaration on Agroforestry.

The declaration called for a more structured approach among country’s various stakeholders on ways to promote agroforestry through the National Agroforestry Policy.

According to the declaration, the proposed policy would give needed boost for the development of fodder and feed, food and nutrition and energy, while also capping land degradation and encouraging new agroforestry models for various agro-ecological zones.

Science-based Intervention, Need of the Hour

According to Dr Javed Rizvi, Regional Director, South Asia program for World Agroforestry Center (WAC), agroforestry is not a new concept to Nepali farmers.

“Farmers have been cultivating trees on farmland for a long time, which is now called agroforestry. This is not a new concept for Nepal. Local knowledge and science-based intervention are needed for sustainable development of forests in Nepal,” says Rizvi.

Legal Constraints

Meanwhile, Nepali stakeholders are worried that the existing legal constraints might pose challenge to agroforestry practices in the country.

According to them, there are 32 national policies that talk about agroforestry, but lack clarity on the same.

“Besides clearly drawing the roles and responsibilities of different agencies, the new policy should declare an agroforestry super zone for the areas where the forest coverage is poor,” says Joshi. Murari Raj Joshi, a Consultant for IMCC for designing the policy.

“There are already many provisions that contradict each other and restrict hassle-free trade of timber and forest products. Without legal flexibility, agroforestry cannot thrive here,” says Bishnu Hari Pandit, Chairperson, Kathmandu Forestry College.

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