AGRICULTURE

AGRICULTURE INDUSTRY IN NEPAL

CHAPTER-1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

In Nepal, the economy is dominated by agriculture. In the late 1980s, it was the livelihood for more than 80 percent of the population, although only approximately 20 percent of the total land area was cultivable, it accounted for, on average, about 60 percent of the GDP and approximately 75 percent of exports. Since the formulation of the Fifth Five-Year Plan (1975–80), agriculture has been the highest priority because economic growth was dependent on both increasing the productivity of existing crops and diversifying the agricultural base for use as industrial inputs.

According to the World Bank, agriculture is the main source of food, income, and employment for the majority. In trying to increase agricultural production and diversify the agricultural base, the government focused on irrigation, the use of fertilizers and insecticides, the introduction of new implements and new seeds of high-yield varieties, and the provision of credit. The lack of distribution of these inputs, as well as problems in obtaining supplies, however, inhibited progress. Although land reclamation and settlement were occurring in the Terai Region, environmental degradation and ecological imbalance resulting from deforestation also prevented progress.

Although new agricultural technologies helped increase food production, there still was room for further growth. Past experience indicated bottlenecks, however, in using modern technology to achieve a healthy growth. The conflicting goals of producing cash crops both for food and for industrial inputs also were problematic.

1.2     Statement of the Problem

Genetic resources are gradually disappearing over time and space from Nepal. Farmers from different parts of the country are not benefited to cultivate food due to low productivity, long maturity period, high cost of production and insect pest problems, such as in hilly and mountain region. Farmers are uneducated and don’t have knowledge about modern method of farming. Lack of skilled manpower, most of the people went abroad. So the greatest resources of a country need to be properly utilized. Farmers need to be educated and made aware of the latest techniques in farming.

Considering this in mind, this study was designed to address the following

Research questions:

1.2.1    What was the Agriculture condition in Nepal?

1.2.2    What are the features and status of Nepalese agriculture and it’s contributed to GDP?

1.2.3    What are the scope and challenges of Nepalese agriculture?

1.2.4    What are the problems and its way to improve?

1.2.5    How climate change affect on Agriculture?

1.3     Objectives of the Study

In general, the study will be focused to analyze about the agriculture industry of Nepal. More specifically, the research work is focused on:

1.3.1    To Study the Agriculture Condition in Nepal

1.3.2    To study About the Organic agriculture In Nepal

1.3.3    To Study about features and status of Nepalese Agriculture

1.3.4    To analyze the scope and challenges of Nepalese agriculture

1.3.5    To analyze the Problems and its Way to improve ds

1.3.6     To Study about the affect of climate change in agriculture

           

1.4     Rationale/Justification of the Study

Nepal, since time immemorial has been an agricultural country. Agriculture takes the long history in Nepal. Agriculture became the livelihood of Nepalese people. Farming is done mostly in the terai region, but farmers are to be found in the hills too. People have been engaged in the growing of rice, wheat, maize and sugarcane. About 20 % of land is cultivable and 80% of people depend on agriculture. The production of crops fluctuated widely as a result of weather conditions. Although agricultural production grew at an average annual rate of 2.4 percent from 1974 to 1989, it did not keep pace with population growth, which increased at an average annual rate of 2.6 percent over the same period. Further, the annual average growth rate of food grain production was only 1.2 percent during the same period.

There were some successes. Fertile lands in the Terai Region and hardworking peasants in the Hill Region provided greater supplies of food staples (mostly rice and corn). Rice is the most important cereal crop. In 1966 total rice production amounted to a little more than 1 million tons; by 1989 more than 3 million tons were produced; now more than 4 million tons were produced. Many people in Nepal devote their lives to cultivating rice to survive. In 1966 approximately 500,000 tons of corn, the second major food crop was produced. By 1989 corn production had increased to over 1 million tons. Other food crops included wheat, millet, barley, potatoes, coffee and milk but their contribution to the agricultural sector was small.

Due to the climatic variation, it becomes problem to farmers. Mountain people are socially background and the topography is very fragile. Farmers of this region cultivate most subsistence crops. Maize is the major crop of the mountain agriculture system and has been affected by unpredictable rainfall during the sowing time and other critical periods of moisture requirement. Several factors like loss of biodiversity and common property resources, growing water stress for irrigation, recurrent crop damage due to natural hazards (such as floods and droughts), soil vulnerability, poor infrastructure (especially transport systems), and inadequate institutional support, such as credit, crop insurance, and storage and processing facilities, have contributed to the undermining of agricultural production in the Mountain region of Nepal. Therefore, mountain communities need to be helped to improve their current adaptation and coping strategies at both the autonomous or local level and at the community level.

1.5     Limitations of the Study

Agriculture industry in Nepal is a vast research. My research comparatively consists of three parts of Nepal; Hill, Terai and Mountain. So it’s difficult to go each parts of Nepal to analyze about their agriculture condition due to the time constraint and yo’s course. So this research based on the information and data from the website of Ministry of Agriculture development of Nepal.

  

1.6     Research Methodology

1.6.1 Selection of study area

This study conducted from the three parts on Nepal, i.e Terai, Hill and Mountain region. This research based on the  agriculture condition of the Terai, Hill And Mountain. The map of Nepal showing the three region of Nepal are presented in figure 1.

1.6.2 Methods of data collection

Both the primary and secondary data were used. The pre-tested interview schedule

was administered to the selected farmers and traders to collect primary data. These data

were supplemented by the information obtained through observation and key informant

interview for understanding marketing system, marketing channels, marketing margins and

location specific characteristics of the study site.

The secondary information were obtained through reviewing different publication mainly

produced by Local Initiatives for Biodiversity Research and Development (LI-BIRD),

Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC), Market Development, Division (MDD),

Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives (MOAC), Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS),

Agro-enterprise Center (AEC), International Plant Genetic Resource Institute (IPGRI),

International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), District Agricultural Development Office

(DADO).

1.7     Chapter Organization

Tentatively, the chapters of the research are organized  under:

1.7.1        Chapter 1.   Introduction.

1.7.2        Chapter 2.     Review of literature

1.7.3        Chapter 3.     Agriculture Industry of Nepal

1.7.4        Chapter 4.      Organic agriculture in Nepal

1.7.5        Chapter 5.      Features and Status of Nepalese Agriculture and its contribution to GDP

1.7.6        Chapter 6.       Affect of Climate change in agriculture

1.7.7        Chapter 7.       Scope and Challenges of Nepalese Agriculture

1.7.8        Chapter 8.        Problems and way to improve of Nepalese Agriculture

1.7.9        Chapter 9.        Recommendation & Conclusion.

Chapter-2

Review of the Literature

2.1 Ministry Of Agriculture Development

MoAD is the department which works on agriculture development of Nepal. The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives is major responsible organization for agricultural development in Nepal. This consists of five divisions, two centers, one research and development council, four departments, four projects and autonomous bodies of one research council (Nepal Agriculture Research Council), four corporations and a few development committees and boards. In and under the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives there are more than 10,000 employees.

 According to MoAD, agriculture is one of the important livelihood sectors in Nepal and provides a substantial proportion of rural income and employment opportunities to its 210 million inhabitants. In Nepal, two third of total population depends on agriculture for their subsistence and more than one third of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) comes from Agriculture sector. Ensuring effective agriculture production across the country has been a serious challenge due to high degree of spatial and temporal climate variability, irrigated and rain fed agriculture systems coupled with farmer’s fragile social and economic fabric and unique mountain practices.

2.2 Nepal Agriculture Research Council

Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) was established in 1991 as an autonomous organization under "Nepal Agricultural Research Council Act - 1991" to conduct agricultural research in the country to uplift the economic level of the people. Under NARC following crop research station perform crop improvement activities in Nepal:

    National Rice Research Program

    National Wheat Research Program

    National Maize Research Program

    National Grain Legumes Research Program

    National Oilseeds Research Program

    National Sugarcane Research Program

    National Citrus Research Program

    National Potato Research Program

    National Jute Research Program

    National Ginger Research Program

    Hill Crops Research Program

According to the NARC Rice is the main source of agriculture product in Nepal. Many people involved in producing rice for their livelihood, second major product is maize. After rice and maize wheat is the major product. Wheat area in the country was 100,000 ha and the production was 112,000 metric tons.

2.3 Agricultural biodiversity

The component of biodiversity that is directly relevant to agriculture in the form of crop plants and livestock along with their genetic providing wild relatives and landraces, biocontrol agents and those offering vital ecosystem services such as pollinators, decomposers and which recycle nutrients, is known as agro biodiversity. The diversity of crops and livestock is the outcome of thousands of years of deliberate selection and field level cross breeding which farmers have tried out. However, the agricultural system is changing drastically in recent years with monoculture plantations and replacement of traditional varieties by high yielding varieties. Landraces (traditional cultivars) and their wild relatives are the key element of agricultural biodiversity and constitute a key resource maintained and used by farmers in different production environments. Diversity of agro ecosystems has helped Nepalese farming communities in maintaining diverse crop resources in the form of local cultivars i.e. landraces. Different landraces have been grown to the farmer’s field since long time, which have been adapted to specific local human needs and environmental niches. Bardsley and Thomas (2005) stated that landraces are the genetically distinct local crop population which came to existence as a result of combined forces of natural and artificial selection in a farmer’s field. Crop diversity, in addition to being affected by population structure and natural selection from the surrounding environment is affected by farmer selection of agro-morphological traits and management Landraces are passed from generation to generation of farmers and are normally distinguished by farmers by agro-morphological characteristics. Farmer's decision of whether to select or reject or maintain a particular landrace at any given time is influenced by environmental, biological, cultural and socio-economic factors.

2.4  National policies for agrobiodiversity conservation

Nepal has immense potential for improving farmer’s food security and livelihood through sustainable utilization, value addition and conservation of its rich agrobioresources. However, this agrobio-wealth potential of the country has not been properly harnessed and realized by the policy makers, planners and development workers alik. Enabling policy environment especially the incentives (both market and non market based) it generates through price, credit, technology, institutions (research, extension and formal education), and regulatory framework play pivotal role in sustainable harnessing, value addition, and conservation of agro-bioresources. Presently there are few policies for the sustainable utilization and conservation of agrobiodiversity on-farm. Although there are few national policies on agrobiodiversity management and farmers' right, yet the country lacks programs to provide incentives to the farming communities for their knowledge and innovations. . Increasing globalization, liberalization and commercialization in agriculture have posed a potential threat in the loss of genetic resources. Nepal’s entry to World Trade Organization (WTO) and enforcement of Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) in WTO have brought new policy challenges and issues that need increasing concern for equitable sharing of

benefits arising from the use of agrobiodiversity. The present policy on genetic diversity is more focused on forest resources including wildlife than on the overall genetic diversity of the agricultural crops, which are important source of livelihood for Nepalese people. Nepal as a signatory of Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Until 2002, biodiversity conservation programmes in Nepal were mainly focused on forestry and wild life resources without considering the importance of conserving crop genetic diversity for local food security and livelihoods. Present agricultural policies of government of Nepal are guided by the 20 years (194/95-2014/15) Agriculture Perspective Plan (APP), national agricultural policies (2004), and three year interim plan (2007-2010). These policies have fundamentally focused on production of a few major crops and well researched uniform modern varieties of crops in favorable pockets with intensive input use and package approach.

2.4.1 Agriculture perspective plan (1994/95-2014/15)

Nepalese official agricultural policies such as Agriculture Perspective Plan (APP) emphasize crop diversification; they lack policy guidelines on on-farm conservation and utilization of minor crop genetic diversity of the country for future food security and sustainability of agricultural production. These policies commonly emphasize high external input and high- yield agricultural production in favorable environments with access to irrigation, roads, electricity, markets and availability of other support services without analyzing their consequences on on-farm genetic diversity. At the local level, farmers may replace their landraces by high yielding varieties (HYVs) in a high yield system, enticed by the apparent financial gains, which such approach promises, these types of policies are commonly referred to as negative incentives because although they do not detract from traditional crop diversity directly, they act to promote HYVs and practices, which cause genetic erosion.

2.4.2 National agricultural policy, 2004

There are possibilities of achieving a sustainable economic growth and ensuring food security through the proper utilization of the opportunities provided by the country’s geography, farmer’s experience, and modern farming technologies. The 1991 policy outlines of Agricultural Development and the Agricultural Perspective Plan, which have been brought into force with the objective of ensuring an overall development of the agricultural sector, have provided, to some extent, a sense of direction to the process of development of this sector. Even then, against the background of economic liberalization, the commitments made by the country at the World Trade Organization and regional organizations, the sustainable development agenda set for the country, and its goals of millennium development, the need has been field for formulation and implementing a new National Agricultural policy that retains the basic aspects of the Agricultural Perspective Plan (MOAC, 2004). The long-term vision of the national agricultural policy, 2004 is improvement in the standard of living of people through a sustainable agricultural development that will be achieved by transforming the current subsistence oriented farming system into a commercial and competitive farming system.

  

Chapter-3

Agriculture Industry of Nepal

Nepal is an agro-based country. Most of the people in Nepal depend on agriculture which provides daily needs such as crops, vegetables, fruits etc. Most of the cottage industries in Nepal are also based on agriculture because it supplies with raw materials. Some of the educated people are employed in other sectors such as teaching, office work, business etc. About 80% of the people’s occupation is agriculture. Trade is also mainly of agricultural products. Agriculture provides raw materials for the industries. With the help of good manure, seeds, equipment and irrigation the growth of crops is increased in large quantity. Agriculture is known as the backbone of economy of Nepal. Agriculture occupation consists of three types: food crops, cash crops and mixed crops.

Food crops: The crops that are used for food are called food crops. Rice, maize, wheat, millet, etc. are good crops. Rice and wheat are grown in the plain areas, in the river banks where the land is hot and wet. Maize and millet are grown in the dry land of hilly areas. According to the statistical information on Nepalese agriculture (2070/71), the area and production of food crops is shown in table 3.1.

Cash crops: The crops that are grown for sale to earn money are called cash crops. Jute, sugarcane, tobacco, tea, coffee, etc. are cash crops. Jute requires plain land with hot and wet climate. Sugarcane and tobacco are grown in the plain areas. Crops need water during their growing stage for a short time. Similarly, tea is grown in the slopes of hills which receive rainfall and the water does not stay for long. Tea is also grown in plains by providing favourable conditions for its growth. According to the statistical information on Nepalese agriculture (2070/71), the area and production of cash crops is shown in table 3.2.

Mixed crops: In some places, varieties of crops are grown at the same time. When more than one crop is planted at the same time and at the same place, it is called mixed crops. For example, along with maize, soyabean, beans, etc. are also planted. Similarly, in the paddy fields, lentil (dal) is planted side by side and fish are also reared in the fields. Such system is called the mixed cropping. According to the statistical information on Nepalese agriculture (2070/71), the area and production of mixed crops is shown in table 3.3.

Livestock or Animal husbandry: It is a part of agriculture as this activity is closely connected with crop farming. It has become a sort of side job for the rural population in Nepal. They raise cows, buffaloes, goats, sheep, pigs, horses, donkeys and poultry. Farmers rear animals for milk, wool, meat and manure. Farmers earn extra money by selling milk and use bullock and male buffaloes to plough field and pull cart. According to the statistical information on Nepalese agriculture (2070/71), the livestock numbers and livestock product is shown in table 3.4 and 3.5.

Horticulture: Horticulture means cultivation of fruits and vegetables. Mangoes, lichi, banana, pineapples, papaya, cucumber, lady fingers, brinjal, pumpkin are mainly grown in the terai and hilly parts of Nepal. Junar, oranges, lemons are produced successfully in the different parts of hilly region. Apples are mostly grown in mountain part of Nepal. The area and production of Horticulture is shown in table 3.6.

3.1 Agriculture in the Terai

In the plains the land is very fertile. The rainfall and other climatic condition are also suitable to grow crops. So, the main occupation of the people in the Terai is agriculture. The main crops

grown in the Terai are rice, wheat, sugar cane, maize, jowar, bajra and pulses. Rice needs hot and wet climate. There must be plenty of water during the period of its growth. The rice

growing season lasts about five months. It is sown in July-August and the harvesting is done in November-October. In some suitable areas, people grow rice twice a year. Wheat is a winter crop. It is sown sometime in October or November, after the rains have stopped. The crop becomes ready in five months. The harvesting of wheat is generally completed by the middle of April. In the terai, the farmers also grow sugar cane. Sugar cane grows and ripens in about ten months. The juice is in the stem of the plant. When the plants are ripe, they are cut and sent to the sugar factory for crushing. The juice of the sugar cane is obtained by crushing. Then the juice is refined, and it is used to make molasses (gur), chaku and sugar. Jute is another important crop in the Terai. It is mostly grown in Morang and Jhapa districts. From the stem of the jute plant a kind of strong fibre is obtained. This is used to make gunny bags, ropes and a number of other things. Beside these crops, the farmers also grow barley, gram, oilseeds and many kinds of pulses. They also grow many seasonal fruits and vegetables.

3.2Agriculture in the Hills

Some people live in hilly areas. It is not unusual to find thick forests growing on the slopes of hills and mountains. Many of these forests, however, have been cut down. The tea plant grows well on the slopes of hills where it rains for the most part of the year. The hilly areas of Illam have ideal conditions for tea gardening.

Tea gardens are generally very large. In these gardens many women workers carrying big baskets on their backs. These women pluck the tealeaves and put them into the basket. When the basket is full, they carry it to the factory. In the factory, the tealeaves are sorted out and dried in a special way. Then, they are packed in boxes and sent out to distant places all over Nepal. Besides tea, the people in these hilly areas grow rice, sugar cane, maize and many kinds of vegetables.

3.3 Agriculture in the Mountains

In the mountains, rocky and uneven lands are present. In these rocky areas, the soil is not fertile. The rainfall is also not enough. So, here the land is not good for cultivation. The soil is sandy and dry. But the mountain region has a vast grassland which good for grazing. So livestock is the main source of income in the mountain region. Apples are mostly grown in these region.

Chapter-4

Organic Agriculture In Nepal

The organic agriculture is a very common word in Nepalese agriculture sector. Over a century, traditionally farmers in hills and mountains are following the farming practice, which is similar to organic farming. However, many of them have no idea that their traditional practice is called organic agriculture. Because of the lengthy certification process the products produced through organic means do not get recognition as organic products. The traditional farming knowledge and skill give the positive point for promoting the organic agriculture in Nepal.

There is increasing trends of using inorganic chemicals terminator seeds and adopting high input technologies. The population growth and demanding cash income to run the household forced farmers to increase their agriculture production including food therefore farmers started to adopt the modern farming techniques. However, the deleterious effects of excessive and unbalanced use of pesticides and inorganic fertilizers on human health, animal health and the environment have been reported time and again. In the recent past, various environmental friendly agriculture development efforts such as ‘alternative agriculture’, ecological agriculture/farming’, ‘bio-dynamic agriculture’, ‘regenerative agriculture’, ‘natural farming’, ‘permaculture’, ‘sustainable

agriculture’, with organic agriculture are in practice aiming to reduce the hazardous effect of the inorganic agriculture. Improving agricultural productivity through increased use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and high yielding varieties are the major intention of the government of Nepal and it is one of the priority sectors of the current 20 years agriculture prospective plan

(APP). All the national education, research, extension and communication systems are concentrated in favor of high input agriculture system in Nepal.

Organic agriculture was first appeared as one of the priority sectors in Nepalese agriculture since the 10th Five Years Plan (2059/060-2063/064). But nowadays various institutions, individuals and farmers are emergently engaging in this field. There are various local organic practices; some practiced from the ages and some innovating new practices by farmers themselves. At present, some organic products such as coffee, tea, honey, large cardamom, ginger etc are exported to international market. These  organic farming and the organic products that got popularity in domestic and international markets such as tea, coffee, honey, ginger, cardamom, and medicinal herbs etc. Various institute and individuals think that organic movement in Nepal is quite slow in motion due to lack of clear vision of the government and distorted information flow from the different developmental projects.

Mainly farmers are confused about the basic technologies of the organic farming. They do not realize that hybrid seeds need high inputs for better production. However, they are not satisfied with the production because the yield is not as enough as to cover the cost of production. Generally farmers think using the vitamins is the practice of organic farming which is their misconception. Due to the lack of proper guidance on organic technologies and insufficient services by the local service centers, many farmers are facing problems in this regard. There are various commitments on organic agriculture in developmental and research projects in Nepal. But the main problem is lack of special package of practices on the basis of ecological region and the needs and priorities of the farmers. Promoting organic farming in hilly and mountain region are easier than terai region. With the simple modification in the practices, farmers practicing will be easier to make the product organic. Existence of large coverage forest area in the hill and mountain regions makes the organic farming and integrated farming system possible. Forest is important input source for the agriculture practices and livestock which will contribute to farmers for manure. Normally 4-5 local cows in the hills will produce 1 kg of urea in a day which will meet the necessity of NPK in the field. Rearing 4-5 local cows will provide enough amounts of nutrients for the 12-15 ropani of land. It is also found that, in the fodder of

1:3 from the field and forest will provide enough amount of NPK in the form of biomass for organic farming. Various local innovations are available in our local farming communities which can be continue as new technology for promoting the organic farming. Chopping of the banana trunk and incorporate in soil will increase the bio mass of the soil. This also helps in the

increment of soil fertility status in the soil and help in better production.

Research organizations like NARC, NARDF give least priority on organic farming. There are limited and scattered researches on organic farming, which are not properly documented and thus repeated on the limited issues. During the fiscal year 2066/067, government provides only 24 corores of subsidies in organic manures and certification process of organic products. Under this limited budget, farmers are confused which part of organic agriculture is to expand by the

government sector.

Chapter-5

Status and Features of Nepalese Agriculture

Nepal is an agro-based country whose 70% citizen still relies on the agriculture as the major source of income. Even though majority of the citizens have occupation as farmer, many of them don't even possess their own land i.e. needless to say they are landless. Agriculture is that factor field which is most responsible for economic growth in our country. Till agriculture itself held 39.5% of the total economy while looking into the indicator of G.D.P. This means still now agricultural sector covers more than one third of the total national economy. If only we could concentrate upon the new approaches for systematic and scientific agricultural system then our national economy growth would reach a greater height. This would ultimately solve the poor economic condition of our citizens and later prosperity would prevail.

There has always been much neglect regarding the agricultural sector for ages. Realization of better country's economy with prosperous agricultural sector is there but unwillingness to act upon it is a problem. Farmers of more than 60% of the fertile land have unheard the irrigation facility yet and still depend upon rain water for cultivation. Lack of proper education or training, farmers apply same old fashioned way of farming that yields less than that with new techniques. Some where fertilizers are used in excess manner whereas some where they are insufficient. Management of the harvested crop has been one of the prominent problems for the farmers. If there be no market there would be no sell which ultimately leads to no economic gain. Orchards of Humla and Jumla are inaccessible for the people of Kathmandu due to no proper transportation facility resulting to rotting of those products. Some farmers don't have lands for their own to cultivate whereas some have unlimited lands that are left barren. Thus, there happens to be many problems in the agricultural sector that had to be addressed by the government.

Some Features of Nepalese agriculture:

5.1 Subsistence agriculture

Nepalese farmers undertake agricultural activities for subsistence commercial, collective and cooperative farming is very limited in the country. The chief objectives of the Nepalese farmers are to get the means of subsistence, i.e. food from agriculture. There are small number of farmers who have very low saving potentially because the agricultural product is enough only to meet the subsistence level. They hardly can meet their basic requirements. The commercial farming is launched in a very limited area and scale.

5.2 Agriculture depends on monsoon

Nepalese agriculture depends largely on monsoon. It can be said that rains in Nepal are inadequate, uncertain and irregular. Irrigation facilities have been available to only 38% of total arable area of the country. So, the Nepalese farmers always look sky for rains because adequate irrigation facilities have not been available so far. They exchange their dream of good harvest with monsoon.

5.3 Small size of land holdings

Agriculture plays crucial role in economic development of Nepal. The small land has become more fragmented over the years. With such an uneconomic land holding substantial increase in agricultural productivity cannot be expected. Due to the lack of alternative occupations, regular subdivision of inherent property of farmers, i.e. land is a common feature in Nepalese society, and it is one of the reasons for the very small size of land holdings. According to National Sample Census of agriculture 1991/92, the average size of land holdings for Nepal is gradually decrease like 1.11 ha (1962), 0.97 ha (1992). These figures clearly reveal the fact the average size of land holdings is drastically small where there is less possibility of mechanization and modernization of agriculture, as a result the productivity of agriculture cannot be increased.

5.4 Low productivity

Low production and productivity characterize Nepalese agriculture. In terms of output per hector of land, agricultural productivity in Nepal is far below the level of agricultural productivity in developed countries. The food grain production per hector was mere 1.85 metric tons and cash crops production was 7.60 metric tons in 1996/97, according to adoption of the primitive technology, low per capital income, small size of land holding are the responsible causes of the low productivity in Nepalese agriculture.

  

5.5 Predominance of food crops

Major food crops such as paddy, wheat, maize, millet are predominant in Nepalese agriculture. According to NSCA 1991/92, about 80% of the total crop area is under food crops and in the remaining 20% of land, the cash crops like tobacco, cotton, tea, jute, sugarcane, vegetables, paddy which alone comprised 30% of all crop areas.

5.6 Under employment and disguised unemployment

The Nepalese agriculture virtually faces the problems of under employment and the disguised unemployment. The reason for this grave situation is the fast growing population and undeveloped state of secondary and the tertiary sectors. The nature of traditional agriculture is seasonal which provides seasonal employment to the farmers. They are unable to get sufficient opportunities in non agricultural sector. The number of disguised unemployed is rapidly multiplying because of rapidly growing population on the one hand and comparatively very slow expansion of employment opportunities in the non agricultural sector on the other.

Chapter-6

Affect of Climate change in Agriculture

The Nepalese economy is largely based on agriculture which accounts for around 35% of GDP.

About 65% of the total population is engaged in Agriculture. Nepalese farming systems are typically integrated and livestock is an essential component. Over 50% of Nepalese farmers are small holders cultivating less than 0.5 ha.

Climate change has increased the risk of disaster in Nepal. Nepal is at high risk of adverse impacts due to climate change and is one of the 20 most disaster-prone countries in the world. Climate change is becoming a major issue in Nepalese agriculture sector and has already lost valuable arable land to flood and erosion. It has seen changes in the monsoon affecting agricultural production and has experienced water shortages and drought. There is also the growing and potentially deadly threat from GLOFs, outbreaks of diseases, and a sustained decline in food security. Hence, climate change has become serious threat to Nepalese agriculture.

Nepalese agriculture is predominantly small-scale farming, around half of which is dependent

on natural rainfall. Rainfall and other climatic factors are critical to crop yields because only

46.5% of overall cultivated area is irrigable of which 69.5% is actually irrigated. Empirical study in recent years indicate that 70% of the performance of crop production can be explained by the climatic variability linked with the temporal weather conditions. Agriculture sector has been affected by floods, droughts and erratic rainfall. Climate change is expected to lead to increasing dryness in drought-prone areas and to wetter conditions in wet areas and there have already been alarming signs of sharp and sustained decline in food security in Nepal. The extreme weather phenomenon, including droughts and floods, is expected to induce food vulnerability. The projected changes in climatic conditions of Nepal will adversely affect agriculture production. Scientific statements regarding changing climate of Nepal are pronouncedly focused on temperature rise at the rate of 0.06°C per annum. Such a rise in average temperature is variable across the country, being higher in the mountains and Himalaya (0.08°C) as compared to low-lying terai (0.04°C). Climate change scenarios indicate that warming at higher elevations will lead to a reduction in snow and ice coverage, which in turn will lead to an increase in the frequency of climate-related disasters, including floods and droughts, as well as cause changes in precipitation at a regional scale. Changing climate will also likely shift the geographic range of crop pests, weeds, and diseases, as well as plant pathogen life cycles, requiring new crop management strategies. Mountain regions of Nepal are facing severe impacts of climate change on the agriculture sector. The effects of climate change are most severely felt by those who depend on the environment and natural resources for livelihood, especially resource poor farmers because they lack alternatives to provide adequate coping mechanisms. This inevitably indicates that the general economic wellbeing of the majority of farmers in the mountain region of Nepal will be affected due to climate change. Geographically over 75% of Nepal is composed of rugged hills and mountains. Increased occurrences of intense rains concentrated during the monsoon season and compounded by frequent occurrences of glacial lake outburst floods has increased soil erosion, floods and landslides in the region. As a result, soil quality has significantly declined

in the mountain region and destruction of agricultural fields and crops have become common.

The degree of vulnerability of agriculture and farming communities to climate change is higher

in mountain region of Nepal due to its rugged terrain with steep topography, and fragile

geological conditions, and vulnerability of soil.

The socio-economic status of the people in mountain region limit institutional capacity and

greater reliance on climate-sensitive sectors like agriculture increase the degree of vulnerability. Hence, exposure to risks and low adaptive capacity to cope with those risks are major factors contributing to the vulnerable situation of the people in the mountain region of Nepal. Their risks and exposure to food insecurity and malnutrition are greatly increased in the event of any change in rainfall patterns leading to declining crop yields and crop variety. This justifies the strong need of understanding climate change at the regional scale and its relationship with socio-economic and biophysical context in order to develop mitigation and adaptation programs and minimize the risk at farm level in mountain region of Nepal.

Chapter-7

Issues and Challenges of Nepalese agriculture

Nepal is called an agricultural country as agriculture consists of a large portion of our Gross Domestic Product and it provides job to the largest portion of our population. However, the scenario is changing as the young generation is being attracted towards the service related job at offices, restaurants, banks and so on. The new generation is gradually departing from the traditional occupation of farming. This changing scenario has a lot of implications and from the business perspective this has increased the scope of agriculture related business even more. Although, agriculture seems to be unprofitable business as of now, it really isn’t. The unprofitability issue arises based upon how we approach agriculture.

7.1 Issues and Challenges in the production of crops, livestock and fisheries

• Issues

1. Farm sizes are small, land is fragmented and no land management.

2. Basic modern technology inputs like seeds, fertilizer, breeds and feeds are in short supply,

3. Reliable irrigation facility is not available.

4. Farmers incur higher cost of production than in India. As a result, products are not competitive in national and international markets. There is no easy access to the market.

5. Interest on agricultural credit is high and credit is not available on time.

6. Pasture lands are limited due to community forests.

• Challenges

1. Agriculture research is not getting high priority in government funding.

2. Modern technologies are not adequately transferred to the farmers’ fields.

3. Fertilizer prices are higher in Nepal than in India. There is no adequate import and supply of chemical fertilizers. Fertilizers and pesticides are not easily available in remote areas.

4. Demand for artificial insemination service has not been met in rural areas. Quality veterinary service is not delivered in rural areas.

5. Develop resource centers for seeds, breeds, saplings, fingerlings, etc.

7.2 Issues and Challenges in agricultural commercialization

• Issues

1. Agricultural enterprises are uncompetitive due to heavy subsidies for Indian farmers.

2. Production systems are still subsistence based and not yet market oriented.

3. Physical infrastructures are inadequate for commercialization.

4. Cost of production is high.

5. Livestock and poultry feed depend on imported raw materials.

6. Poultry industry is in risk due to bird flu.

• Challenges

1. Production planning for market demand is weak.

2. Development and transfer of agricultural processing technologies is limited.

3. International market access for products with comparative advantage to be facilitated.

4. Capacity in policy formulation, implementation, regulation and institution enhanced to participate in WTO.

5. All the value chain stakeholders should be supported for the supply of quality products demanded by the market.

6. Quality control and safety regulatory system should be effective.

7.3 Issues and Challenges in Agriculture and Livestock service delivery

• Issues

1. Extension services are devolved to the district level. There is weak coordination among central, regional and district level agencies in planning, monitoring and evaluation.

2. Traditional service delivery system is dominant.

3. Public investment in agriculture sector is declining.

4. Modern technology is not readily available in rural areas.

  

• Challenges

1. The common farmers and the conflict victims need to be assured the effect of change with quality service.

2. The extension service delivery should be result-oriented with the coordinated efforts of all service providers.

3. Service delivery should be inclusive to attend to the needs of poor, marginal, women, and various indigenous and ethnic groups.

4. Agricultural technologies, education and extension should be aligned to the needs, priorities and demands of the farmers.

7.4 Issues and Challenges in cooperatives

• Issues

1. Long term planning is lacking in this sector.

2. Members have profit making motive rather than working withthe cooperative principles.

3. Manpower and organizational structure is not enough to render services to cover the entire country.

4. Formal cooperative training, education and information dissemination is inadequate.

5. Monitoring of cooperatives is inadequate.

• Challenges

1. Cooperatives act and rules have to be amended to suit to present day needs.

2. Organizational structure has to cover the entire country.

3. Trained human resource is needed for education, training and monitoring the cooperatives.

4. Business entrepreneurship has to be inculcated in cooperative leadership to balance self discipline, regulation and self governance.

5. Long term vision has to be developed in line with the Interim

Constitution for public welfare.

  7.5 Issues and Challenges in Irrigation

• Issues

1. Irrigation services not dependable because regular repair and maintenance is not performed due to lack of sufficient funding.

2. Large and reservoir backed irrigation schemes have not been initiated as envisioned by the Water Resources Strategy and the National Water Plan for bigger impact on agricultural productivity.

3. Lack of farmers’ active participation in the repair, operation and maintenance.

• Challenges

1. Year round water delivery in the irrigation command areas.

2. Collection of irrigation service fee to cover for repair, operation and maintenance.

3. Difficulty in management transfer to WUO for operation and management, after construction.

4. Damage caused to irrigation infrastructure in the monsoon season are not rehabilitated timely.

7.6 Issues and Challenges to address agricultural and rural credit

• Issues

1. Limited access to agricultural loan and microfinance due to the absence of such institutions in rural areas.

2. High interest rates.

• Challenges

1. Agricultural credit earmarked for production, agrobased industries and marketing.

2. Micro-credit institutions in rural areas.

3. Group guarantee to run small enterprises, especially for women and disadvantaged

people.

4. Crops and livestock insurance system.

Chapter-8

Problems of Nepalese agriculture and its way to improve

Nepal , since time immemorial has been an agricultural country . People have been engaged in the growing of rice , wheat , maize and sugarcane . The farmers have also been engaged in growing other cash crops and vegetables. Farming is done mostly in the terai region, but farmers are to be found in the hills too. They engage in terrace farming . Most of the farmers grow rice as it is the staple food of the Nepalese . Serious problems plague the farmers of Nepal. We have not been able to improve our agriculture a lot. It is in still traditional and labour-intensive. Subsistence nature and lower productivity are its major characteristics. Agriculture sector has been given due priority by all the economic plans; still expected outcome has not been seen. So, the following factors are responsible for our agricultural backwardness:

Traditional farming:

Nepalese agriculture used traditional methods of farming. Agricultural tools are not advanced. Due to traditional farming, work is very difficult and production in low. Farmers are not skilled in the methods of the modern agriculture. They are also not healthy enough to realize the potential of their farms. Crops and grains are destroyed by pests, insects and weeds. Animals also cannot give good yield when they suffer from diseases.

Lack of proper irrigation system:

We have not been able to utilize our vast water resources to irrigate cultivable land. Hardly about 20% of the total land under cultivation has good irrigation facilities. So farmers have to depend highly on monsoon rain which in not timely and reliable. In winter much of the farm land remains unused due to the lack of irrigation facilities. During each monsoon landslides and floods excessive rain damage of the crop land.

                                                                  

Lack of transport and market:

Due to lack of market our agro-based products rot in the places where they are grown. Food grains grow in the Terai cannot be transported to other areas easily nor can fruits such as apple grown in the north easily get market in the south. Due to lack of storage facilities , agricultural products suffer low price.

Unscientific and undemocratic distribution of land:

Land distribution in not scientific and democratic. Those who are actual tillers don't own land at all while those who don't even tread field hoard huge areas of land and leave it uncultivated. Fertile valley and plains are being occupied by the settlement and industries. Besides, there in over-fragmentation of agricultural land i.e. broken into too small parcels. It is difficult to cultivate such parcels. All this results in low production.

Over pressure of manpower:

Less than 20% of total area of Nepal in under cultivation. But over 60% of population overburdens the land. With rapid population growth, number of farmers cultivating the same field in increasing. When the share of land for a farmer gets very low, per ca-pita production decreases.

Poor economic condition:

Nepalese farmers are subsistence farmers. They are compelled to take loan even to run their family. They born in debt and die in debt. Interest rates are high. Much of their production goes in paying interests. In such conditions they cannot afford applying new technology and machinery to improve farming.

Lack of research activities:

A certain soil type and climate type in suitable for one or few crops. There are diverse climate and soil types in Neal. But there have not been enough researches and experiments to find the best crops and the best climate and soil type. Government plans and endeavors are quite insufficient in this regard.

The agricultural sector faces serious problems. Despite the continuous efforts by the government, for its development the remedial measure for these problems are as follows:

Control of population growth:

The pressure of population on land has created various problems. Thus, the population pressure on agricultural land should be reduced by controlling the rapid growth of population and diverting agricultural labour to other sectors of the economy.

Technical improvement:

The technical production techniques help to raise the agricultural productivity. Thus the production techniques should be improved to solve the problem.

Provisions of adequate credit:

Most of the farmers are poor. So, the provision of agricultural credit should be made available at lowest possible rate of interest to small and marginal farmers. The credit facilities through different banks and financial institutions should be expanded so that maximum numbers of farmers have easy access to credit facilities.

Marketing and storage facilities:

The farmers have not been able to get reasonable price due to the lack of adequate marketing and storage facilities. Hence, marketing and storage facilities should be made available so that they get reasonable price.

Development of irrigation facilities:

Nepalese agricultural production depends upon monsoon, which doesn’t occur timely and also inadequate. So, that irrigation facility has to be extended throughout the country to increase the production and productivity.

Effective government policy:

The government should help to adopt appropriate and effective policies for agricultural development. The government should help to make efforts to utilize the resources to the agricultural sector and make credit facilities easily available to the farmers.

Chapter-9

Recommendation and Conclusion

9.1 Recommendation

Based on the discussion in the workshop, the following recommendations are

developed to promote Nepalese agriculture:

Ø  Still in hills and mountains regions of Nepal, the agriculture practice is traditional. Little effort will modify the current farming practices into organic. This will certainly achieve the goals and objective of the organic agriculture. Making every place and area organic is rather impossible and therefore focus should be given to specific crops and specific location especially in mid hill and mountain.

Ø  The cost of production is high and Nepalese farmers cannot compete with the Indian and other international market. Hence Government must provide support to the organic farmers groups, cooperatives in order to minimize the cost and mass production. Subsidy will be provided based upon the volume of production in order to motivate the farmers for easy marketing of the products.

Ø  Develop irrigation infrastructure to the farmers for reducing drought hazards.

Ø  Develop safe agrochemicals to minimize pest and disease damage in the crops.

Ø  There are various non- governmental and cooperatives working in the field of farming. Many of them are in inactive and so there is need to revitalize their activities for upgrading  agriculture.

Ø  There are limited courses and activities on organic farming at school, universities and training institutions. As the consequences, extension services have usually faced problems of trained professionals on organic agriculture. Thus, incorporation of courses related to organic production is necessary in the education programs of primary and secondary school level, universities and training institutions for developing professionals in this field.

Ø  Credit should be provided to farmers at lowest rate of interest. The credit facilities through different banks and financial institutions should be expanded so that maximum numbers of farmers have easy access to credit facilities.

9.2 Conclusion

Hence, Agriculture is one of main livelihood of Nepalese people, which provides a substantial proportion of rural income and employment opportunities to its 210 million inhabitants. In Nepal, two third of total population depends on agriculture for their subsistence and more than one third of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) comes from Agriculture sector. Ensuring effective agriculture production across the country has been a serious challenge due to high degree of spatial and temporal climate variability, irrigated and rain fed agriculture systems coupled with farmer’s fragile social and economic fabric and unique mountain practices. So government have to take serious action for agriculture development.

List of Tables

Crops	Area(ha)	Production(mt.)	Yield(kg/ha)
Paddy	1486951	5047047	3394
Maize	928761	2283222	2458
Millet	271183	304105	1121
Wheat	754474	1883147	2496
Barley	28173	34824	1236
Buckwheat	10510	10335	983
Total	3480052	9562680

Table 3.1 Area and production of food crops

Crops	Area(ha)	Production(mt.)	Yield(kg/ha)
Oilseed	224582	194536	866
Potato	205725	2817512	13695
Tobacco	773.23	1004	1298
Sugarcane	76863	3315939	43141
Jute	8787	12659	1441
Cotton	130	132	1012
Total

Table 3.2 Area and Production of Cash crops

Crops	Area(ha)	Production(mt.)	Yield(kg/ha)
Lentil	205939	226830	1101
Chick Pea	9341	9380	1004
Pigeon Pea	17006	16415	965
Black Gram	23312	19383	831
Grass Pea	11495	14103	1227
Horse Gram	6233	5662	908
Soyabean	23757	28237	1189
Others	30644	32817	1071
Total	328738	352473	1072

Table 3.3 Area and Production of mixed crops

Category	Numbers
Cattle	7243916
Buffaloes	5178612
Sheep	789216
Goat	10177531
Pigs	1190138
Fowl	48079406
Duck	390209
Milking Cow	1024513
Milking Buffaloes	1345837

Table 3.4 Livestock number

Category	Milk(mt)
Cow Milk	532300
Buff Milk	1167773
Category	Meat
Buff	173906
Mutton	2656
Goat	59053
Pig	19269
Chicken	43133
Duck	227

Table 3.5 Livestock Product

Crops	Area(ha)	Production(mt.)	Yield(kg/ha)
Fruits	110086	965044	8766
Vegetables	254932	3421035	13419
Tea	19271	21394	1110
Coffee	1911	429.4	225
Chilli	8033	35668	4440
Ginger	24226	276150	11399
Garlic	6569	45035	6856

Table 3.6 Area and Production of Horticulture