Nepal witnessed increase in paddy production this year compared to the last year. However, the country still faces short of 4, 80,000 metric tons of rice to meet national…
Nepal witnessed increase in paddy production this year compared to the last year. However, the country still faces short of 4, 80,000 metric tons of rice to meet national…
With fixing of the date to crush the sugarcane by the sugar mills, sugarcane producing farmers have started harvesting sugarcanes. The government, however, has not shown any concern to fix the minimum support price for the sugarcane…
Compared to the last year, paddy production has increased in Palpa this…
Cardamom price has fallen of late. A maund of cardamom sells at Rs 24,000 at Jhapa’s Birtamod. Per maund of cardamom would fetch Rs 26,000 just a week ago in the same…
Farmers led by their organizations are preparing to stage sit-ins at food depots across the country to press the government-owned Food Management and Trading Company(FMTC) to start purchasing paddy at the minimum support price set by the government from…
With the harvesting of the paddy over, farmers are preparing to cultivate wheat in Parsa. They are, however, struggling to sow the wheat due to shortage of fertiliser and improved…
May 8: A recent study has shown that only 30 percent of arable land has been irrigated in…
May 4: Peasants’ organisations affiliated to the ruling five-party alliance have asked the government to include the issues of import substitute and export promotion of agricultural goods through commercialisation of agriculture sector in the government’s new policy and…
May 3: This year, the government announced the support price of wheat after the farmers sold their produce at a cheaper price.…
April 29: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma complained that the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development did not obey his…
April 27: The government intensified consultations for preparing the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) to be introduced on May…
April 26: The state-owned Food Management and Trading Company Limited (FMTCL) has yet again failed to procure paddy as per its target this…
April 24: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said that the agriculture sector needs encouragement, not grants in the budget of the upcoming fiscal year.…
April 22: Experts have accused the government of undermining the agriculture sector of the country.…
April 20: The government has started the national agriculture census from Tuesday by allocating a budget of Rs 100…
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However, the country still faces short of 4, 80,000 metric tons of rice to meet national demand.', 'content' => '<p>January 2: Nepal witnessed increase in paddy production this year compared to the last year. However, the country still faces short of 4, 80,000 metric tons of rice to meet national demand.</p> <p>Nepal requires around 4 million metric tons of rice in a year. But, the domestic production provides only 3.5 million metric tons of the rice.<br /> One individual consumes 121 kg of rice on average in a year. Import of rice and paddy slumped by 6.3 per cent in the current fiscal year compared to the last year.</p> <p>The import of rice and paddy plummeted by 38.2 per cent in the first five months of the current fiscal year. </p> <p>The data at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development show that paddy including summer paddy and early autumn paddy is grown in 14,47,789 hectares of the field across the country. </p> <p>Paddy is Nepal’s major food crop. The country’s paddy productivity stands 3.79 metric tons per hectare while total national production of the food crop is 54, 86,472 metric tons. </p> <p> Compared to the last fiscal, total paddy area has shrunk by 2 per cent, while productivity has gone up by 6.94 percent.<br /> Hardinath, Khumal, Radha, and Sworna Sab are some of famous paddy varieties cultivated in Nepal.</p> <p>For self-sufficiency in paddy, the ministry has been conducting various programmes to promote paddy productivity in collaboration with local and province governments. </p> <p>The government has set up the provision to purchase the paddy at minimum support price through cooperatives. The ministry provides Rs 112 management expense per quintal of paddy to each cooperative for paddy’s storage. </p> <p>Province-wise, Sudurpaschim Province witnessed 33.33 per cent rise of paddy production this year. Unseasonal rainfall had caused massive damage to paddy in Kailali and Kanchnapur last year.</p> <p>Likewise, Lumbini Province, Province 1, Karnali and Madhes Province witnessed 15.2 per cent, 5.72, 3.46 and 0.18 per cent growth respectively in the current fiscal compared to the last fiscal. </p> <p>However, paddy production plummeted by 1.45 per cent and 3.74 per cent in Bagmati and Gandaki Province respectively. </p> <p>Availability of chemical fertilizers, increasing use of improved seeds and farmers’ access to agriculture technicians have led to the rise of paddy produce, according to the ministry.</p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-02', 'modified' => '2023-01-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16385', 'image' => '20230102053729_collage (25).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-02 17:34:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16549', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Government Delays to Fix Support Price for Sugarcane; Farmers Likely To Face Old Predicament ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'With fixing of the date to crush the sugarcane by the sugar mills, sugarcane producing farmers have started harvesting sugarcanes. The government, however, has not shown any concern to fix the minimum support price for the sugarcane yet. ', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">December 18: With fixing of the date to crush the sugarcane by the sugar mills, sugarcane producing farmers have started harvesting sugarcanes. The government, however, has not shown any concern to fix the minimum support price for the sugarcane yet. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Sugarcane producing farmers are busy harvesting sugarcanes in Sarlahi, Bara, Rautahat, Kapilvastu, Kailali, and Kanchanpur in Tarai. After a few days, they will start selling their produce. But, the government not fixing the support price has left them worried and disappointed. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">In the case of paddy, the government fixed the minimum support price after the paddy producing farmers had sold out their produce to manage their household expenses. Farmers with weak financial condition had sold out their paddy to the traders up to at Rs 800 per quintal cheaper price before the government determined the minimum support price.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Sugarcane Producing Farmers Struggle Committee Sarlahi’s Secretary Harishyam Ray says that almost all of the farmers had started harvesting the sugarcane as sugar mills had already fixed the date to crush the sugarcane.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">“Sugarcanes have started drying up. Delaying to harvest them will lose their weight. The government should have fixed the minimum support price by now. We do not know why the government is delaying to fix the price”, Ray wondered. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Ray informed he has planted sugarcane in three bigahas of the land. He used to plant sugarcanes in 18 bigahas of the land until four years ago. “Owing to delay to fix the minimum price, non-payment of the sugarcanes for a long time by mill owners, soaring cost of production, I have reduced sugarcane cultivation”, shared Ray. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Sugarcane farmers have to protest to receive money of the their produce against sugar mill owners.<br /> Sugarcane farmers from Tarai have staged the protest in Kathmandu to force the sugar mills to pay them for their produce in the past years.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The government had issued warning to arrest the sugar mill owners for non-payment to the farmers. The government fixes minimum support price of paddy, wheat and sugarcane, among others, to ensure farmers’ cost of production and stop middlemen from cheating farmers.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Stakeholders, however, say that minimum price fixed by the government is a game to trick farmers.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Sugarcane Farmers’ Struggle Committee Coordinator Rakesh Mishra says that farmers can not benefit as the government delays to fix the price though the provision has it that the government has to determine the price before farmers plant the crops.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Meanwhile, Ministry of Agriculture, and Livestock Development, however, said that it was preparing to present the proposal to fix the minimum price of sugarcane to the Cabinet. </span><br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Spokesperson Prakash Kumar Sanjel at the ministry said that sugarcane’s support price would be fixed in a matter of few days. “The ministry has completed all technical work. Now, we will hold a meeting with all stakeholders and fix the price”, added Sanjel. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Farmers have been accusing the government of fixing the price arbitrarily by not inviting their representatives. They complain that support price is always lower than their cost of production since their representatives are not invited in the meeting held to fix the support price of the sugarcane. </span></p> <p><br /> <span style="font-size:18px">Sugarcane farmers have started selling their produce to jaggery industries at cheaper price since they are fed up with the government delay to fix the support price and non-payment of their produce by the sugar mill owners. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-18', 'modified' => '2022-12-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16290', 'image' => '20221218063838_collage (9).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-18 06:32:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16513', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Paddy Production Rises in Palpa', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Compared to the last year, paddy production has increased in Palpa this year.', 'content' => '<p><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:20px">December: Compared to the last year, paddy production has increased in Palpa this year. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">According to Agriculture Knowledge Center Palpa Chief Kamana Adhikari, Palpa produced 32,019 metric tons of paddy this year. Paddy was cultivated in 8,210 hectares of the land in the district.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">“Disease and insects attacked paddy at seed-bearing time. Despite this, their effect was less than expected”, added Adhikari.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">The district had produced 31,428 metric tons of the paddy cultivated in 8,206 hectares of the land. “Increasing use of modern technology, and use of improved seeds recommended by agriculture technicians have led to the rise od paddy production”, said Center’s Information Officer Milan Gaire.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">Farmers have been planting various species of paddy such as sabitri, hybrid, sanwa mansuli, US-312, shnati, khumal-3, among others, in the district. Local paddy types are hardly cultivated these days. Peasants and farmers cultivate improved seed to increase productivity. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">Adequate rainfall at the time of paddy plantation and construction of canals have encouraged farmers to plant paddy. Use of thresher machine and tractor has made paddy cultivation easy for famers, motivating them to plant the paddy even in the barren field of late. </span></p> <p><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-13', 'modified' => '2022-12-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16254', 'image' => '20221213100633_collage (4).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-13 10:00:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16501', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Cardamom Price Drops', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Cardamom price has fallen of late. A maund of cardamom sells at Rs 24,000 at Jhapa’s Birtamod. Per maund of cardamom would fetch Rs 26,000 just a week ago in the same market.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"> </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">December 11: Cardamom price has fallen of late. A maund of cardamom sells at Rs 24,000 at Jhapa’s Birtamod. Per maund of cardamom would fetch Rs 26,000 just a week ago in the same market. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Cardamom entrepreneurs say that low demand for the cardamom has driven the price down this year. “Of late, production of the cardamom has gone up where as demand has shrunk which has led the price to drop”, said cardamom entrepreneur Narendra Tiwari. He has collected around 400 maunds of cardamom this year. Out of them, Tiwari has purchased half of them at Rs 29,000 per maund from farmers. “I have stored most of the cardamom in the godown due to price fall”, Tiwari added.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Meanwhile, farmers are also waiting for right price to sell their produce. Though they have handed over their product to traders, peasants have not reduced the price. “We are confused as the price is fluctuating”, said farmer Raj Kumar Bhattarai.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Price letup has also put big traders in trouble as they have to bank on Indian market. “The cardamom sold up to Rs 48,000 per maund last year. Since then, the price has been dipping”, cardamom farmers and traders say. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-11', 'modified' => '2022-12-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16242', 'image' => '20221211054014_collage (4).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-11 17:35:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16498', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Farmers to Stage Sit-In to Press the Government to Purchase Paddy ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Farmers led by their organizations are preparing to stage sit-ins at food depots across the country to press the government-owned Food Management and Trading Company(FMTC) to start purchasing paddy at the minimum support price set by the government from today(Sunday). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"> </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">December: Farmers led by their organizations are preparing to stage sit-ins at food depots across the country to press the government-owned Food Management and Trading Company(FMTC) to start purchasing paddy at the minimum support price set by the government from today(Sunday). </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">One and a half months have passed ever since the government fixed the support price for the paddy. FMTC, however, has not started buying the paddy except from Bardiya’s Rajpur, according to All Nepal Peasants’ Federation. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The Cabinet meeting on November 2 had decided to fix the support price for paddy for the current fiscal year 2022/23. As per the decision, price of thick-sized paddy is Rs 2,967 per quintal, and medium-sized paddy is Rs 3,128 per quintal. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">With the government’s delay, some farmers had sold out their produce to traders even before the government had fixed the support price for paddy at cheaper price. <br /> </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Paddy farmers have complained that delay to fix the minimum paddy price has stopped them from having profit. No different is the plight of sugarcane farmers. They have to agitate to press the government to fix the minimum price and sell their produce to every year.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Chairman of Nepal Peasants’ Federation Ganesh Chandra Timilsina says that blame game among the FMTC, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies is delaying the process to procure paddy from the peasants. </span><br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">“We are preparing to stage sit-ins in front of eight depots owned by FMTC except Rajapur”, said Timilsina. <br /> Farmers and peasants will stage sit-ins at FMTC’s Mahendranagar, Nepalgunj, Bhairahawa, Birgunj, Janakpur, and Jhapa depots from today.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Timilsina has said that their agitation and sit-in will continue until the government starts purchasing the paddy at the minimum price. Earlier, farmers led by All Nepal Peasants’ Federation and Nepal Peasants’ Federation had staged protest to press the FMTC to commence buying the paddy at Maitighar Mandala, Kathmandu, on Friday. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-11', 'modified' => '2022-12-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16239', 'image' => '20221211062505_collage (2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-11 06:21:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16491', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Dearth of fertiliser and seed hits Parsa Farmers ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'With the harvesting of the paddy over, farmers are preparing to cultivate wheat in Parsa. They are, however, struggling to sow the wheat due to shortage of fertiliser and improved seed. ', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">December 9: With the harvesting of the paddy over, farmers are preparing to cultivate wheat in Parsa. They are, however, struggling to sow the wheat due to shortage of fertiliser and improved seed. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">While farmers have tilled the land are almost ready to sow the winter crop, shortage of fertiliser and improved seed has hit the snag. Scarcity of Di-ammonium Phosphate (DAP) is pervasive at the time to sow the wheat crop in the district.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Earlier, the government had fixed fertiliser quota to every district and delegated the responsibility to Agriculture Material Company Limited and Salt Trading Corporation to distribute the vital plant nutrient. </span><br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Both company and corporation distribute fertilizer to the farmers through agriculture cooperatives at the recommendation of local levels. An agriculture cooperative said that it had not been able to distribute fertilizer due to manure crunch. <br /> “We have been distributing fertilizer provided to us to the farmers”, said Proprietor Hari Shankar Mahot of Young Star Cooperative located at Birgunj Metropolitan City-28. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Farmers lamented that they are having a hard time cultivating wheat crop for lack of vital inputs. “We used to import fertilizer the Indian market in the past. But, police personnel have barred us from purchasing the plant nutrient from Indian market this year”, complained Ram Balak Chaurasiya of Birgunj-16. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Not only fertilizer, farmers are experiencing the crunch of improved wheat seed as well. <br /> Meanwhile, Pradip Yadav, newly-elected member of the House of Representatives from Parsa-1, visited the offices of Regional Agriculture Material Company Limited and Salt Trading Corporations in Birgunj and held discussion with officials to provide fertilizer to the farmers at the earliest. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16232', 'image' => '20221209052853_collage (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 17:00:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15229', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Food Production affected by Lack of Irrigation Facility: NARC', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 8: A recent study has shown that only 30 percent of arable land has been irrigated in Nepal.', 'content' => '<p>May 8: A recent study has shown that only 30 percent of arable land has been irrigated in Nepal. The information was shared at a press conference organized by the Nepal Agricultural Research Council in Kathmandu on Saturday on the occasion of its 31st anniversary.</p> <p>Executive director of the council Dr Deepak Bhandari said that it is not easy to produce food grains due to lack of irrigation facility. He urged the concerned authorities not to delay in making proper arrangements for irrigation, fertilizer and technology to increase the production of paddy, wheat and maize in the country.</p> <p>Executive Director Bhandari also recalled that the budget allocated for irrigation was spent on the construction of embankment due to which it was not possible to arrange irrigation in the cultivable land.</p> <p>The research council claimed it has so far developed 723 varieties of 80 different crops which have been made available for the farmers. Similarly, digital mapping of soil has been made public and a proposal has been put forward to introduce technology to store oranges and lemons in cold storage for three months, said Bhandari.</p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-08', 'modified' => '2022-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14971', 'image' => '20220508081558_paddy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-08 08:12:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15213', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Farmers’ Organisations Demand Commercilisation of Agriculture Sector', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 4: Peasants’ organisations affiliated to the ruling five-party alliance have asked the government to include the issues of import substitute and export promotion of agricultural goods through commercialisation of agriculture sector in the government’s new policy and programme. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 4: Peasants’ organisations affiliated to the ruling five-party alliance have asked the government to include the issues of import substitute and export promotion of agricultural goods through commercialisation of agriculture sector in the government’s new policy and programme. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The organisations have called upon all three tiers of government to work for the development of a socialism-oriented economy as envisioned by the Constitution of Nepal through the development of a self-reliant agriculture economy to ensure happiness and prosperity in the lives of farmers. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal Farmers’ Association, All Nepal Peasants’ Federation of CPN (Unified Socialist), All Nepal Peasants’ Federation and Socialist Peasants’ Federation affiliated to the five-party alliance put forth such demands. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The orgnisations have also demanded that the concept of land bank brought by the erstwhile government to feed the corporate houses and multinational corporations be scrapped. – RSS</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">It may be noted that the government had enforced the Land Use Act, 2019 in August 2020. The act had introduced concept of land bank for the first time by classifying land into various categories. The new act allows government authorities to impose fines if land was not used for specific purpose.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The new act also allows the government to slap a fine of up to Rs 100,000 if the agricultural land is left barren for a period of up to three years without informing the local government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The land has been classified into 10 categories including agricultural; residential; commercial; industrial; mining and minerals; forests; rivers, streams, ponds and wetlands; public use; cultural and archaeological; and others. <em>(With inputs from RSS)</em></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-04', 'modified' => '2022-05-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14955', 'image' => '20220504124911_Agri.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-04 12:48:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15209', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Government Announces Support Price of Wheat after Farmers Sell their Produce', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 3: This year, the government announced the support price of wheat after the farmers sold their produce at a cheaper price. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 3: This year, the government announced the support price of wheat after the farmers sold their produce at a cheaper price. The government fixes the support price of crops each year to prevent them from being the victim of inconsistent prices set by businessmen and traders.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The farmers were compelled to sell their produce like wheat, paddy, sugarcane, etc. at the rates fixed by the traders and businessmen due to the delay on part of the government in fixing the minimum support price.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Harvesting of wheat has just started in the hill districts. Meanwhile, farmers in the Terai region have already finished harvesting wheat by mid-April.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Farmers cannot store wheat for a long period as they have to manage fertilizer and seeds for the next cycle of crops. This is why they try to sell the crop as soon as possible after harvesting. However, due to the government’s delay in fixing the support price in time, the farmers were unable to take advantage of the support price.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government makes purchases of wheat from the districts of Terai through its own food management and trading companies at a certain price. For the current fiscal year, most of the farmers in Banke, Bardiya, Kailali, Kanchanpur, Dang, Rupandehi, Bara, Parsa and Janakpur districts have already sold wheat at a loss of Rs 400 per quintal compared to the support price fixed by the government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The cabinet meeting held last Thursday fixed the minimum support price of wheat at Rs 3,165 per quintal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Agni Aryal, coordinator of Rajapur Paddy Super Zone in Bardiya, more than 80 percent farmers of Bardiya have already sold wheat to local traders at the rate of Rs 2800 per quintal. He said that except for some big farmers, the rest of the farmers could not store wheat for a long time as they needed to manage fertilizer and seeds in time for planting the next lot of crop.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Aryal claims that the state-owned food companies will now buy the same wheat that was sold by the farmers to the traders at a price that is little less than the support price fixed by the government. He claimed that even in the past, government employees used to collude with the traders in this way.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">About 50 percent farmers of Janakpur have already sold wheat at Rs 2,750 to Rs 2,800 per quintal. Radhesh Yadav, a representative farmer from Janakpur said, “We already sold the wheat. We do not know for whom the government has fixed the support price. If the support price is fixed for real farmers, it should be done at the time of planting the crop itself.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to rules, the government needs to determine the support price before planting. However, Uddhav Adhikari, coordinator of the Agriculture Campaign for Food says that farmers suffer every year due to the violation of rules by the government itself.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Adhikari remarked that the situation to sell products below the support price set by the government is shameful.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Officials express that the concerned authorities should monitor the situation to end this practice. Adhikari said, “Looking at the government's activities, it looks like the farmers are being insulted and the traders are being favored.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development Govinda Prasad Sharma admitted that the farmers are greatly affected by the delay in fixing the support price of wheat.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to him, the process of fixing the support price takes a long time since the Ministry of Agriculture sends the recommendation to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supply which again needs to wait for the decision of the Council of Ministers to approve it. He remarked that such a problem will not arise if the government adopts a policy of fixing prices before planting crops.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong>Hindrances for Food Management Company to purchase wheat</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Food Management and Trading Company Limited is set to purchase 5,000 metric tons of wheat worth Rs 160 million this year. However, in the districts of Terai, the purchase of crops is likely to be affected as farmers have already sold wheat.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company failed to meet its purchase target even under normal circumstances. It is estimated that the purchase will be affected heavily this year as farmers in Rajapur, Dhangadhi and other areas who have been selling wheat in large quantities have already sold it. Last year, the Food Management Company started the work with the target of purchasing 5,000 metric tons of wheat but could purchase only 1294 metric tons due to the Covid-19 pandemic.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-03', 'modified' => '2022-05-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14951', 'image' => '20220503045825_Wheat_photo-cred-Adobe-stock_E-2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-03 16:57:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15187', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Finance Minister says Staff of Agriculture Ministry did not Obey his Orders', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 29: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma complained that the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development did not obey his orders.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 29: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma complained that the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development did not obey his orders. Finance Minister Sharma said that the staff did not respond to his instruction to bring improved varieties of paddy seeds and distribute them to farmers two months ago.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> “For the last two months, I have been asking to distribute improved variety of paddy seeds to the farmers, but you (the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture) have not shown any interest,” Finance Minister Sharma told the officials of the agriculture ministry during a discussion at the Finance Ministry on Wednesday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> During the meeting, the finance minister issued a fresh directive to provide improved varieties of seeds to the farmers so that they can plant paddy in the upcoming planting season in June-July.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Ministry of Finance held discussions with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC), Department of Food Technology and Quality Control, Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supply, Department of Quality and Measurement on the topics of increasing paddy production, systematic operation of quarantine and quality certification.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the discussion, Finance Minister Sharma said that there is a pressure to reduce the growing import of rice starting from this year itself. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Sharma said, “If we use improved varieties of seeds, it is estimated that the paddy production will grow by three folds this year. Let's not delay this task. If we manage to raise the production three times by December, there will be no need to import rice.” </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sharma assured that if the improved seeds are expensive for the farmers, the ministry will issue subsidies right away. “If you need subsidy for improved seeds, tell us how much money you need, and we will issue it. We believed that rice imports worth billions of rupees can be reduced by spending little amount on seeds.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the discussion, Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini said that traders should be encouraged to import seeds. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Likewise, Agriculture Secretary Dr Govinda Sharma informed that the productivity of paddy is 3.5 metric tons per hectare on an average and that the production will improve a lot with the use of improved variety of seeds.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-29', 'modified' => '2022-04-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14930', 'image' => '20220429102042_fin min sharma.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-29 10:19:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15175', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Agriculture Sector gets Top Priority in Budget', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 27: The government intensified consultations for preparing the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) to be introduced on May 29', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 27: The government intensified consultations for preparing the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) to be introduced on May 29, as per by the constitutional provision. The Ministry of Finance expedited the process of budget preparation, prioritizing the agriculture sector in order to revive the economy in the upcoming fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">On the one hand, a team led by Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Finance Bhupal Baral is mobilized to prepare the budget on time; while on the other hand, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma is also taking the lead. The budget preparation team has decided to not prioritize “popular programmes” as the economy was threatened by such programmes in the previous years.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Finance Minister Sharma has been saying that he will give priority to agriculture since a lot of agricultural produce is being imported. The ministry is preparing the budget in such a way that it would implement effective programmes rather than increase the budget for agriculture excessively. Though the budget will be focused on agriculture, Finance Minister Sharma has instructed the concerned officials not to emphasize on subsidy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As per the suggestion of Finance Minister Sharma, the team is preparing the budget to encourage the farmers through timely availability of fertilizers, technology and through technical assistance. Prakash Sanjel, joint secretary and spokesperson of the Ministry of Agriculture, informed that the ministry was given a budget ceiling of Rs 42.73 billion for the upcoming fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Ministry of Finance, the new budget prioritizes recovery from the current economic crisis, which should not be included in the next budget. As the current crisis is expected to improve in the next three months, ministry officials believe that no special programmes should be included in the new budget.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Despite the pressure on foreign exchange reserves, it is estimated that the foreign exchange reserves will become balanced ahead of the next budget. Based on the same estimate, a senior government official said there is no strategy to bring in new programmes. However, the budget will address the issue of reducing trade deficit, the official added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The ministry stated that the budget will be based on the vision, goals, objectives, strategies, priorities, annual policies and programmes of the government. The principles of budget and priorities will also be taken into consideration along with sustainable development goals mentioned in the 15<sup>th</sup> periodic plan. In addition, emphasis will be put on efficient management of financial federalism, high economic growth, rapid economic and social development and effective implementation of development programmes and projects for equitable distribution. Also, welfare programmes will be emphasized through social security schemes.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The ministry drafted the thematic budget to ensure the required funds for projects of national pride, transformational projects, new programmes of high importance and other projects under multi-year contract. Finance Minister Sharma has emphasized on the need to merge or reject programmes or projects of the same nature.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-27', 'modified' => '2022-04-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14917', 'image' => '20220427010238_ArunYadav_Rajbiraj_RSS_17_a.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-27 13:01:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15170', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => ' Food Management and Trading Company Fails to Meet its Target of Purchasing Paddy', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 26: The state-owned Food Management and Trading Company Limited (FMTCL) has yet again failed to procure paddy as per its target this year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 26: The state-owned Food Management and Trading Company Limited (FMTCL) has yet again failed to procure paddy as per its target this year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Since the state-owned company has not been able to purchase even half of the paddy as per its target, questions have been raised about the minimum support price of paddy fixed by the government for the welfare of the farmers.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stakeholders say that the government announces the minimum support price only for the sake of announcement.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Uddhav Adhikari, coordinator of the Agriculture Campaign for Food, said the government fixes the support prices but does not give much attention towards its implementation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After the government fixes the support price, the state-owned company sets the purchase target accordingly. However, the official said that it was a shame not to be able to buy even half of the target.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The FMTCL had initially targeted to buy 30,000 metric tonnes of paddy from farmers in the current fiscal year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Later, the company said it is not possible to buy in that quantity, and then revised the purchase target. This time the company set a target of purchasing 20,000 metric tons of paddy. But the company has not been able to purchase that amount of paddy. According to the latest data, the FMTCL has bought only 9,000 metric tonnes of paddy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company has purchased 9,000 metric tonnes of paddy from nine offices, including Birtamod, Biratnagar, Rajapur and Dhangadhi.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company has procured 1600 metric tonnes of paddy from Birtamod, 1496 metric tonnes from Biratnagar, 1785 metric tonnes from Lahan, 1664 metric tonnes from Janakpur, 1783 metric tonnes from Birgunj, 225 metric tonnes from Nepalgunj, 780 metric tonnes from Rajapur, five metric tonnes from Dhangadhi and 116 metric tonnes from Mahendranagar.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company’s failure to buy paddy as per the target is not a new issue. Last year, it had set a target of purchasing 60,000 metric tonnes of paddy, but only 22,000 tonnes were procured. The company did not meet the target of buying wheat either.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-26', 'modified' => '2022-04-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14910', 'image' => '20220426112607_rice-paddy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-26 11:25:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15157', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Agriculture Sector needs Encouragement not Donation: Finance Minister ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 24: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said that the agriculture sector needs encouragement, not grants in the budget of the upcoming fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 24: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said that the agriculture sector needs encouragement, not grants in the budget of the upcoming fiscal year. During an interaction with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development on Friday to discuss the upcoming budget as well as policies and programmes of the government, Finance Minister Sharma suggested not to use the word grant as the agriculture sector needs encouragement. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"When making the budget for the upcoming year, don't use the word subsidy in agriculture, remove it," he said. He said that it was important to reward the farmers on the basis of productivity.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Sharma gave such instructions after Prakash Sanjel, Joint Secretary and Spokesperson of the Ministry of Agriculture, raised the issue of agricultural subsidy in the proposed program for the coming years. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The National Planning Commission has proposed a budget ceiling of Rs 42.73 billion for the Ministry of Agriculture for the upcoming fiscal year. The ministry has said that it will propose programmes within the budget limit. In the current fiscal year, only 2.5 percent of the total budget has been allocated for the agriculture sector and the average growth rate of agriculture and livestock has been 3 percent in the last ten years, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the interaction, Finance Minister Sharma complained that there was a delay in setting up quarantine at the border despite repeated instructions. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He instructed to carry out examination of imported agricultural produce and food items and also to ensure quantity of pesticides and the condition of labeling etc. He directed to increase the production by distributing improved varieties of seeds to the farmers who are preparing to plant paddy in June-July. "Distribute seeds of high quality of paddy to the farmers immediately. We will provide some budget if needed for this," he said. “Imports should be reduced by increasing paddy production as soon as possible." </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-24', 'modified' => '2022-04-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14899', 'image' => '20220424034134_agri maize.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-24 15:40:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15147', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'State Undermines Agriculture Sector: Experts', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 22: Experts have accused the government of undermining the agriculture sector of the country. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 22: Experts have accused the government of undermining the agriculture sector of the country. Due to the government’s apathy, economists say that the import of goods that are produced within the country has also increased while the fertile lands have been left barren.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Speaking at a program organized by the Nepal Intellectuals’ council on Thursday, former governor of Nepal Rastra Bank Dipendra Bahadur Chhetri said that it is unfortunate that agriculture sector is not even included in the national policy. Chhetri said, “In fact, the government has devalued the agricultural sector. It is not the fault of the present or any particular government; all the governments are responsible for the devaluation of the agricultural sector. On top of that, even the citizens have started living luxurious life. This has put a negative impact not only on the agricultural sector, but also on the economy as a whole.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The former governor said that the agricultural sector should also be given special priority to solve the current problems seen in the economy of the country in the long run.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Another former governor, Dr Tilak Rawal also said that the government has not prioritized on agriculture. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“It is not possible to make a big revolution in the agricultural sector immediately. But the production of commodities like paddy, wheat and vegetables can be increased immediately. But the government is still unaware of this fact,” Rawal said, adding, “In the last 7/8 months, vegetables like potatoes and tomatoes worth more than Rs 11 billion were imported. We can produce such vegetables in the country itself. However, the government has not introduced any policy to address this issue.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rawal stated that the US-China trade war, the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine tensions have had a direct impact on Nepal's economy and that the government cannot be blamed. He said that imports should be tightened immediately to solve the current problems associated with the economy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Meanwhile, former finance secretary Rameshwar Khanal said the state of Nepal's economy is not worrisome. However he acknowledged that is a crucial time for the state to become alert. Khanal said, “There is enough foreign exchange reserves to support six months of imports, which is enough in itself. Even if it goes down to 3 months, there is still no need to panic,” he added, “On top of that, our foreign debt repayment schedule is good. Just 3 percent of the annual revenue is enough to pay the installment. Therefore, it is unlikely that the country will reach the same state as Sri Lanka.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Former Minister Pradip Gyawali said that the investors are losing trust in the private sector. He said, “There is no guarantee that the domestic investors are safe to invest in the country. As a result, the capital is being driven off. Also, the government lacks seriousness on this issue.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-22', 'modified' => '2022-04-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14889', 'image' => '20220422012326_Agri.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-22 13:22:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15134', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Agriculture Census to Cost Rs 100 Billion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 20: The government has started the national agriculture census from Tuesday by allocating a budget of Rs 100 billion.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 20: The government has started the national agriculture census from Tuesday by allocating a budget of Rs 100 billion. The agricultural census started on April 19 and will last for 45 days. It is expected to help identify farmers' complaints, needs and problems in order to seek solutions.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Central Bureau of Statistics started the agricultural census about six months after the national census was held. The department stated that Rs 100 billion will be spent on data collection, analysis, its preparation, printing of questionnaires, enumerators’ salary and facilities. Badri Kumar Karki, the director of the department said that about Rs 720 million will be spent for data collection alone.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to him, the department will collect data for the agriculture census from all 753 local units. The census is expected to give a clear picture of the total area of cultivable land in the country at present, the main crops cultivated, livestock count, and the use of fertilizers, seeds and pesticides. Similarly, statistics on farmers with agricultural insurance, farmers’ access to agricultural credit, agricultural structure available at every local level, agricultural activities, use of agricultural technology will also be obtained.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Karki said that the current state of agriculture will be known from the data collection, which will help in making it more effective by formulating necessary policies and strategies for solving the problems. Apart from this, the census will help the government to bring additional programs for encouraging all those who have been involved in household farming.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has been conducted the agriculture census in Nepal since 1961 and is done every ten years. According to the department, about 5,200 enumerators and 1,300 supervisors are deployed in the field to collect the data.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The enumerators will collect data from 350,000 households considering them as representative households. The department said that the details of women-led farming will be collected separately, while keeping the increasing participation of women in the agricultural sector in mind.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-20', 'modified' => '2022-04-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14876', 'image' => '20220420120625_20200512091924_20190527010000_Makai.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-20 12:05:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/indexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16644', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Despite Increase in Paddy Production, Domestic Production Fails to Meet National Rice Demand ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => ' Nepal witnessed increase in paddy production this year compared to the last year. However, the country still faces short of 4, 80,000 metric tons of rice to meet national demand.', 'content' => '<p>January 2: Nepal witnessed increase in paddy production this year compared to the last year. However, the country still faces short of 4, 80,000 metric tons of rice to meet national demand.</p> <p>Nepal requires around 4 million metric tons of rice in a year. But, the domestic production provides only 3.5 million metric tons of the rice.<br /> One individual consumes 121 kg of rice on average in a year. Import of rice and paddy slumped by 6.3 per cent in the current fiscal year compared to the last year.</p> <p>The import of rice and paddy plummeted by 38.2 per cent in the first five months of the current fiscal year. </p> <p>The data at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development show that paddy including summer paddy and early autumn paddy is grown in 14,47,789 hectares of the field across the country. </p> <p>Paddy is Nepal’s major food crop. The country’s paddy productivity stands 3.79 metric tons per hectare while total national production of the food crop is 54, 86,472 metric tons. </p> <p> Compared to the last fiscal, total paddy area has shrunk by 2 per cent, while productivity has gone up by 6.94 percent.<br /> Hardinath, Khumal, Radha, and Sworna Sab are some of famous paddy varieties cultivated in Nepal.</p> <p>For self-sufficiency in paddy, the ministry has been conducting various programmes to promote paddy productivity in collaboration with local and province governments. </p> <p>The government has set up the provision to purchase the paddy at minimum support price through cooperatives. The ministry provides Rs 112 management expense per quintal of paddy to each cooperative for paddy’s storage. </p> <p>Province-wise, Sudurpaschim Province witnessed 33.33 per cent rise of paddy production this year. Unseasonal rainfall had caused massive damage to paddy in Kailali and Kanchnapur last year.</p> <p>Likewise, Lumbini Province, Province 1, Karnali and Madhes Province witnessed 15.2 per cent, 5.72, 3.46 and 0.18 per cent growth respectively in the current fiscal compared to the last fiscal. </p> <p>However, paddy production plummeted by 1.45 per cent and 3.74 per cent in Bagmati and Gandaki Province respectively. </p> <p>Availability of chemical fertilizers, increasing use of improved seeds and farmers’ access to agriculture technicians have led to the rise of paddy produce, according to the ministry.</p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-02', 'modified' => '2023-01-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16385', 'image' => '20230102053729_collage (25).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-02 17:34:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16549', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Government Delays to Fix Support Price for Sugarcane; Farmers Likely To Face Old Predicament ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'With fixing of the date to crush the sugarcane by the sugar mills, sugarcane producing farmers have started harvesting sugarcanes. The government, however, has not shown any concern to fix the minimum support price for the sugarcane yet. ', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">December 18: With fixing of the date to crush the sugarcane by the sugar mills, sugarcane producing farmers have started harvesting sugarcanes. The government, however, has not shown any concern to fix the minimum support price for the sugarcane yet. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Sugarcane producing farmers are busy harvesting sugarcanes in Sarlahi, Bara, Rautahat, Kapilvastu, Kailali, and Kanchanpur in Tarai. After a few days, they will start selling their produce. But, the government not fixing the support price has left them worried and disappointed. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">In the case of paddy, the government fixed the minimum support price after the paddy producing farmers had sold out their produce to manage their household expenses. Farmers with weak financial condition had sold out their paddy to the traders up to at Rs 800 per quintal cheaper price before the government determined the minimum support price.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Sugarcane Producing Farmers Struggle Committee Sarlahi’s Secretary Harishyam Ray says that almost all of the farmers had started harvesting the sugarcane as sugar mills had already fixed the date to crush the sugarcane.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">“Sugarcanes have started drying up. Delaying to harvest them will lose their weight. The government should have fixed the minimum support price by now. We do not know why the government is delaying to fix the price”, Ray wondered. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Ray informed he has planted sugarcane in three bigahas of the land. He used to plant sugarcanes in 18 bigahas of the land until four years ago. “Owing to delay to fix the minimum price, non-payment of the sugarcanes for a long time by mill owners, soaring cost of production, I have reduced sugarcane cultivation”, shared Ray. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Sugarcane farmers have to protest to receive money of the their produce against sugar mill owners.<br /> Sugarcane farmers from Tarai have staged the protest in Kathmandu to force the sugar mills to pay them for their produce in the past years.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The government had issued warning to arrest the sugar mill owners for non-payment to the farmers. The government fixes minimum support price of paddy, wheat and sugarcane, among others, to ensure farmers’ cost of production and stop middlemen from cheating farmers.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Stakeholders, however, say that minimum price fixed by the government is a game to trick farmers.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Sugarcane Farmers’ Struggle Committee Coordinator Rakesh Mishra says that farmers can not benefit as the government delays to fix the price though the provision has it that the government has to determine the price before farmers plant the crops.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Meanwhile, Ministry of Agriculture, and Livestock Development, however, said that it was preparing to present the proposal to fix the minimum price of sugarcane to the Cabinet. </span><br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Spokesperson Prakash Kumar Sanjel at the ministry said that sugarcane’s support price would be fixed in a matter of few days. “The ministry has completed all technical work. Now, we will hold a meeting with all stakeholders and fix the price”, added Sanjel. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Farmers have been accusing the government of fixing the price arbitrarily by not inviting their representatives. They complain that support price is always lower than their cost of production since their representatives are not invited in the meeting held to fix the support price of the sugarcane. </span></p> <p><br /> <span style="font-size:18px">Sugarcane farmers have started selling their produce to jaggery industries at cheaper price since they are fed up with the government delay to fix the support price and non-payment of their produce by the sugar mill owners. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-18', 'modified' => '2022-12-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16290', 'image' => '20221218063838_collage (9).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-18 06:32:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16513', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Paddy Production Rises in Palpa', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Compared to the last year, paddy production has increased in Palpa this year.', 'content' => '<p><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:20px">December: Compared to the last year, paddy production has increased in Palpa this year. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">According to Agriculture Knowledge Center Palpa Chief Kamana Adhikari, Palpa produced 32,019 metric tons of paddy this year. Paddy was cultivated in 8,210 hectares of the land in the district.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">“Disease and insects attacked paddy at seed-bearing time. Despite this, their effect was less than expected”, added Adhikari.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">The district had produced 31,428 metric tons of the paddy cultivated in 8,206 hectares of the land. “Increasing use of modern technology, and use of improved seeds recommended by agriculture technicians have led to the rise od paddy production”, said Center’s Information Officer Milan Gaire.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">Farmers have been planting various species of paddy such as sabitri, hybrid, sanwa mansuli, US-312, shnati, khumal-3, among others, in the district. Local paddy types are hardly cultivated these days. Peasants and farmers cultivate improved seed to increase productivity. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">Adequate rainfall at the time of paddy plantation and construction of canals have encouraged farmers to plant paddy. Use of thresher machine and tractor has made paddy cultivation easy for famers, motivating them to plant the paddy even in the barren field of late. </span></p> <p><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-13', 'modified' => '2022-12-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16254', 'image' => '20221213100633_collage (4).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-13 10:00:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16501', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Cardamom Price Drops', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Cardamom price has fallen of late. A maund of cardamom sells at Rs 24,000 at Jhapa’s Birtamod. Per maund of cardamom would fetch Rs 26,000 just a week ago in the same market.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"> </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">December 11: Cardamom price has fallen of late. A maund of cardamom sells at Rs 24,000 at Jhapa’s Birtamod. Per maund of cardamom would fetch Rs 26,000 just a week ago in the same market. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Cardamom entrepreneurs say that low demand for the cardamom has driven the price down this year. “Of late, production of the cardamom has gone up where as demand has shrunk which has led the price to drop”, said cardamom entrepreneur Narendra Tiwari. He has collected around 400 maunds of cardamom this year. Out of them, Tiwari has purchased half of them at Rs 29,000 per maund from farmers. “I have stored most of the cardamom in the godown due to price fall”, Tiwari added.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Meanwhile, farmers are also waiting for right price to sell their produce. Though they have handed over their product to traders, peasants have not reduced the price. “We are confused as the price is fluctuating”, said farmer Raj Kumar Bhattarai.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Price letup has also put big traders in trouble as they have to bank on Indian market. “The cardamom sold up to Rs 48,000 per maund last year. Since then, the price has been dipping”, cardamom farmers and traders say. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-11', 'modified' => '2022-12-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16242', 'image' => '20221211054014_collage (4).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-11 17:35:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16498', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Farmers to Stage Sit-In to Press the Government to Purchase Paddy ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Farmers led by their organizations are preparing to stage sit-ins at food depots across the country to press the government-owned Food Management and Trading Company(FMTC) to start purchasing paddy at the minimum support price set by the government from today(Sunday). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"> </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">December: Farmers led by their organizations are preparing to stage sit-ins at food depots across the country to press the government-owned Food Management and Trading Company(FMTC) to start purchasing paddy at the minimum support price set by the government from today(Sunday). </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">One and a half months have passed ever since the government fixed the support price for the paddy. FMTC, however, has not started buying the paddy except from Bardiya’s Rajpur, according to All Nepal Peasants’ Federation. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The Cabinet meeting on November 2 had decided to fix the support price for paddy for the current fiscal year 2022/23. As per the decision, price of thick-sized paddy is Rs 2,967 per quintal, and medium-sized paddy is Rs 3,128 per quintal. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">With the government’s delay, some farmers had sold out their produce to traders even before the government had fixed the support price for paddy at cheaper price. <br /> </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Paddy farmers have complained that delay to fix the minimum paddy price has stopped them from having profit. No different is the plight of sugarcane farmers. They have to agitate to press the government to fix the minimum price and sell their produce to every year.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Chairman of Nepal Peasants’ Federation Ganesh Chandra Timilsina says that blame game among the FMTC, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies is delaying the process to procure paddy from the peasants. </span><br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">“We are preparing to stage sit-ins in front of eight depots owned by FMTC except Rajapur”, said Timilsina. <br /> Farmers and peasants will stage sit-ins at FMTC’s Mahendranagar, Nepalgunj, Bhairahawa, Birgunj, Janakpur, and Jhapa depots from today.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Timilsina has said that their agitation and sit-in will continue until the government starts purchasing the paddy at the minimum price. Earlier, farmers led by All Nepal Peasants’ Federation and Nepal Peasants’ Federation had staged protest to press the FMTC to commence buying the paddy at Maitighar Mandala, Kathmandu, on Friday. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-11', 'modified' => '2022-12-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16239', 'image' => '20221211062505_collage (2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-11 06:21:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16491', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Dearth of fertiliser and seed hits Parsa Farmers ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'With the harvesting of the paddy over, farmers are preparing to cultivate wheat in Parsa. They are, however, struggling to sow the wheat due to shortage of fertiliser and improved seed. ', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">December 9: With the harvesting of the paddy over, farmers are preparing to cultivate wheat in Parsa. They are, however, struggling to sow the wheat due to shortage of fertiliser and improved seed. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">While farmers have tilled the land are almost ready to sow the winter crop, shortage of fertiliser and improved seed has hit the snag. Scarcity of Di-ammonium Phosphate (DAP) is pervasive at the time to sow the wheat crop in the district.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Earlier, the government had fixed fertiliser quota to every district and delegated the responsibility to Agriculture Material Company Limited and Salt Trading Corporation to distribute the vital plant nutrient. </span><br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Both company and corporation distribute fertilizer to the farmers through agriculture cooperatives at the recommendation of local levels. An agriculture cooperative said that it had not been able to distribute fertilizer due to manure crunch. <br /> “We have been distributing fertilizer provided to us to the farmers”, said Proprietor Hari Shankar Mahot of Young Star Cooperative located at Birgunj Metropolitan City-28. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Farmers lamented that they are having a hard time cultivating wheat crop for lack of vital inputs. “We used to import fertilizer the Indian market in the past. But, police personnel have barred us from purchasing the plant nutrient from Indian market this year”, complained Ram Balak Chaurasiya of Birgunj-16. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Not only fertilizer, farmers are experiencing the crunch of improved wheat seed as well. <br /> Meanwhile, Pradip Yadav, newly-elected member of the House of Representatives from Parsa-1, visited the offices of Regional Agriculture Material Company Limited and Salt Trading Corporations in Birgunj and held discussion with officials to provide fertilizer to the farmers at the earliest. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16232', 'image' => '20221209052853_collage (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 17:00:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15229', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Food Production affected by Lack of Irrigation Facility: NARC', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 8: A recent study has shown that only 30 percent of arable land has been irrigated in Nepal.', 'content' => '<p>May 8: A recent study has shown that only 30 percent of arable land has been irrigated in Nepal. The information was shared at a press conference organized by the Nepal Agricultural Research Council in Kathmandu on Saturday on the occasion of its 31st anniversary.</p> <p>Executive director of the council Dr Deepak Bhandari said that it is not easy to produce food grains due to lack of irrigation facility. He urged the concerned authorities not to delay in making proper arrangements for irrigation, fertilizer and technology to increase the production of paddy, wheat and maize in the country.</p> <p>Executive Director Bhandari also recalled that the budget allocated for irrigation was spent on the construction of embankment due to which it was not possible to arrange irrigation in the cultivable land.</p> <p>The research council claimed it has so far developed 723 varieties of 80 different crops which have been made available for the farmers. Similarly, digital mapping of soil has been made public and a proposal has been put forward to introduce technology to store oranges and lemons in cold storage for three months, said Bhandari.</p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-08', 'modified' => '2022-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14971', 'image' => '20220508081558_paddy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-08 08:12:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15213', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Farmers’ Organisations Demand Commercilisation of Agriculture Sector', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 4: Peasants’ organisations affiliated to the ruling five-party alliance have asked the government to include the issues of import substitute and export promotion of agricultural goods through commercialisation of agriculture sector in the government’s new policy and programme. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 4: Peasants’ organisations affiliated to the ruling five-party alliance have asked the government to include the issues of import substitute and export promotion of agricultural goods through commercialisation of agriculture sector in the government’s new policy and programme. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The organisations have called upon all three tiers of government to work for the development of a socialism-oriented economy as envisioned by the Constitution of Nepal through the development of a self-reliant agriculture economy to ensure happiness and prosperity in the lives of farmers. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal Farmers’ Association, All Nepal Peasants’ Federation of CPN (Unified Socialist), All Nepal Peasants’ Federation and Socialist Peasants’ Federation affiliated to the five-party alliance put forth such demands. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The orgnisations have also demanded that the concept of land bank brought by the erstwhile government to feed the corporate houses and multinational corporations be scrapped. – RSS</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">It may be noted that the government had enforced the Land Use Act, 2019 in August 2020. The act had introduced concept of land bank for the first time by classifying land into various categories. The new act allows government authorities to impose fines if land was not used for specific purpose.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The new act also allows the government to slap a fine of up to Rs 100,000 if the agricultural land is left barren for a period of up to three years without informing the local government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The land has been classified into 10 categories including agricultural; residential; commercial; industrial; mining and minerals; forests; rivers, streams, ponds and wetlands; public use; cultural and archaeological; and others. <em>(With inputs from RSS)</em></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-04', 'modified' => '2022-05-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14955', 'image' => '20220504124911_Agri.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-04 12:48:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15209', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Government Announces Support Price of Wheat after Farmers Sell their Produce', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 3: This year, the government announced the support price of wheat after the farmers sold their produce at a cheaper price. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 3: This year, the government announced the support price of wheat after the farmers sold their produce at a cheaper price. The government fixes the support price of crops each year to prevent them from being the victim of inconsistent prices set by businessmen and traders.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The farmers were compelled to sell their produce like wheat, paddy, sugarcane, etc. at the rates fixed by the traders and businessmen due to the delay on part of the government in fixing the minimum support price.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Harvesting of wheat has just started in the hill districts. Meanwhile, farmers in the Terai region have already finished harvesting wheat by mid-April.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Farmers cannot store wheat for a long period as they have to manage fertilizer and seeds for the next cycle of crops. This is why they try to sell the crop as soon as possible after harvesting. However, due to the government’s delay in fixing the support price in time, the farmers were unable to take advantage of the support price.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government makes purchases of wheat from the districts of Terai through its own food management and trading companies at a certain price. For the current fiscal year, most of the farmers in Banke, Bardiya, Kailali, Kanchanpur, Dang, Rupandehi, Bara, Parsa and Janakpur districts have already sold wheat at a loss of Rs 400 per quintal compared to the support price fixed by the government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The cabinet meeting held last Thursday fixed the minimum support price of wheat at Rs 3,165 per quintal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Agni Aryal, coordinator of Rajapur Paddy Super Zone in Bardiya, more than 80 percent farmers of Bardiya have already sold wheat to local traders at the rate of Rs 2800 per quintal. He said that except for some big farmers, the rest of the farmers could not store wheat for a long time as they needed to manage fertilizer and seeds in time for planting the next lot of crop.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Aryal claims that the state-owned food companies will now buy the same wheat that was sold by the farmers to the traders at a price that is little less than the support price fixed by the government. He claimed that even in the past, government employees used to collude with the traders in this way.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">About 50 percent farmers of Janakpur have already sold wheat at Rs 2,750 to Rs 2,800 per quintal. Radhesh Yadav, a representative farmer from Janakpur said, “We already sold the wheat. We do not know for whom the government has fixed the support price. If the support price is fixed for real farmers, it should be done at the time of planting the crop itself.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to rules, the government needs to determine the support price before planting. However, Uddhav Adhikari, coordinator of the Agriculture Campaign for Food says that farmers suffer every year due to the violation of rules by the government itself.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Adhikari remarked that the situation to sell products below the support price set by the government is shameful.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Officials express that the concerned authorities should monitor the situation to end this practice. Adhikari said, “Looking at the government's activities, it looks like the farmers are being insulted and the traders are being favored.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development Govinda Prasad Sharma admitted that the farmers are greatly affected by the delay in fixing the support price of wheat.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to him, the process of fixing the support price takes a long time since the Ministry of Agriculture sends the recommendation to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supply which again needs to wait for the decision of the Council of Ministers to approve it. He remarked that such a problem will not arise if the government adopts a policy of fixing prices before planting crops.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong>Hindrances for Food Management Company to purchase wheat</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Food Management and Trading Company Limited is set to purchase 5,000 metric tons of wheat worth Rs 160 million this year. However, in the districts of Terai, the purchase of crops is likely to be affected as farmers have already sold wheat.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company failed to meet its purchase target even under normal circumstances. It is estimated that the purchase will be affected heavily this year as farmers in Rajapur, Dhangadhi and other areas who have been selling wheat in large quantities have already sold it. Last year, the Food Management Company started the work with the target of purchasing 5,000 metric tons of wheat but could purchase only 1294 metric tons due to the Covid-19 pandemic.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-03', 'modified' => '2022-05-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14951', 'image' => '20220503045825_Wheat_photo-cred-Adobe-stock_E-2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-03 16:57:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15187', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Finance Minister says Staff of Agriculture Ministry did not Obey his Orders', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 29: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma complained that the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development did not obey his orders.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 29: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma complained that the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development did not obey his orders. Finance Minister Sharma said that the staff did not respond to his instruction to bring improved varieties of paddy seeds and distribute them to farmers two months ago.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> “For the last two months, I have been asking to distribute improved variety of paddy seeds to the farmers, but you (the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture) have not shown any interest,” Finance Minister Sharma told the officials of the agriculture ministry during a discussion at the Finance Ministry on Wednesday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> During the meeting, the finance minister issued a fresh directive to provide improved varieties of seeds to the farmers so that they can plant paddy in the upcoming planting season in June-July.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Ministry of Finance held discussions with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC), Department of Food Technology and Quality Control, Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supply, Department of Quality and Measurement on the topics of increasing paddy production, systematic operation of quarantine and quality certification.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the discussion, Finance Minister Sharma said that there is a pressure to reduce the growing import of rice starting from this year itself. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Sharma said, “If we use improved varieties of seeds, it is estimated that the paddy production will grow by three folds this year. Let's not delay this task. If we manage to raise the production three times by December, there will be no need to import rice.” </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sharma assured that if the improved seeds are expensive for the farmers, the ministry will issue subsidies right away. “If you need subsidy for improved seeds, tell us how much money you need, and we will issue it. We believed that rice imports worth billions of rupees can be reduced by spending little amount on seeds.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the discussion, Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini said that traders should be encouraged to import seeds. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Likewise, Agriculture Secretary Dr Govinda Sharma informed that the productivity of paddy is 3.5 metric tons per hectare on an average and that the production will improve a lot with the use of improved variety of seeds.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-29', 'modified' => '2022-04-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14930', 'image' => '20220429102042_fin min sharma.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-29 10:19:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15175', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Agriculture Sector gets Top Priority in Budget', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 27: The government intensified consultations for preparing the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) to be introduced on May 29', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 27: The government intensified consultations for preparing the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) to be introduced on May 29, as per by the constitutional provision. The Ministry of Finance expedited the process of budget preparation, prioritizing the agriculture sector in order to revive the economy in the upcoming fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">On the one hand, a team led by Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Finance Bhupal Baral is mobilized to prepare the budget on time; while on the other hand, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma is also taking the lead. The budget preparation team has decided to not prioritize “popular programmes” as the economy was threatened by such programmes in the previous years.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Finance Minister Sharma has been saying that he will give priority to agriculture since a lot of agricultural produce is being imported. The ministry is preparing the budget in such a way that it would implement effective programmes rather than increase the budget for agriculture excessively. Though the budget will be focused on agriculture, Finance Minister Sharma has instructed the concerned officials not to emphasize on subsidy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As per the suggestion of Finance Minister Sharma, the team is preparing the budget to encourage the farmers through timely availability of fertilizers, technology and through technical assistance. Prakash Sanjel, joint secretary and spokesperson of the Ministry of Agriculture, informed that the ministry was given a budget ceiling of Rs 42.73 billion for the upcoming fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Ministry of Finance, the new budget prioritizes recovery from the current economic crisis, which should not be included in the next budget. As the current crisis is expected to improve in the next three months, ministry officials believe that no special programmes should be included in the new budget.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Despite the pressure on foreign exchange reserves, it is estimated that the foreign exchange reserves will become balanced ahead of the next budget. Based on the same estimate, a senior government official said there is no strategy to bring in new programmes. However, the budget will address the issue of reducing trade deficit, the official added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The ministry stated that the budget will be based on the vision, goals, objectives, strategies, priorities, annual policies and programmes of the government. The principles of budget and priorities will also be taken into consideration along with sustainable development goals mentioned in the 15<sup>th</sup> periodic plan. In addition, emphasis will be put on efficient management of financial federalism, high economic growth, rapid economic and social development and effective implementation of development programmes and projects for equitable distribution. Also, welfare programmes will be emphasized through social security schemes.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The ministry drafted the thematic budget to ensure the required funds for projects of national pride, transformational projects, new programmes of high importance and other projects under multi-year contract. Finance Minister Sharma has emphasized on the need to merge or reject programmes or projects of the same nature.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-27', 'modified' => '2022-04-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14917', 'image' => '20220427010238_ArunYadav_Rajbiraj_RSS_17_a.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-27 13:01:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15170', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => ' Food Management and Trading Company Fails to Meet its Target of Purchasing Paddy', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 26: The state-owned Food Management and Trading Company Limited (FMTCL) has yet again failed to procure paddy as per its target this year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 26: The state-owned Food Management and Trading Company Limited (FMTCL) has yet again failed to procure paddy as per its target this year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Since the state-owned company has not been able to purchase even half of the paddy as per its target, questions have been raised about the minimum support price of paddy fixed by the government for the welfare of the farmers.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stakeholders say that the government announces the minimum support price only for the sake of announcement.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Uddhav Adhikari, coordinator of the Agriculture Campaign for Food, said the government fixes the support prices but does not give much attention towards its implementation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After the government fixes the support price, the state-owned company sets the purchase target accordingly. However, the official said that it was a shame not to be able to buy even half of the target.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The FMTCL had initially targeted to buy 30,000 metric tonnes of paddy from farmers in the current fiscal year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Later, the company said it is not possible to buy in that quantity, and then revised the purchase target. This time the company set a target of purchasing 20,000 metric tons of paddy. But the company has not been able to purchase that amount of paddy. According to the latest data, the FMTCL has bought only 9,000 metric tonnes of paddy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company has purchased 9,000 metric tonnes of paddy from nine offices, including Birtamod, Biratnagar, Rajapur and Dhangadhi.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company has procured 1600 metric tonnes of paddy from Birtamod, 1496 metric tonnes from Biratnagar, 1785 metric tonnes from Lahan, 1664 metric tonnes from Janakpur, 1783 metric tonnes from Birgunj, 225 metric tonnes from Nepalgunj, 780 metric tonnes from Rajapur, five metric tonnes from Dhangadhi and 116 metric tonnes from Mahendranagar.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company’s failure to buy paddy as per the target is not a new issue. Last year, it had set a target of purchasing 60,000 metric tonnes of paddy, but only 22,000 tonnes were procured. The company did not meet the target of buying wheat either.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-26', 'modified' => '2022-04-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14910', 'image' => '20220426112607_rice-paddy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-26 11:25:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15157', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Agriculture Sector needs Encouragement not Donation: Finance Minister ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 24: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said that the agriculture sector needs encouragement, not grants in the budget of the upcoming fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 24: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said that the agriculture sector needs encouragement, not grants in the budget of the upcoming fiscal year. During an interaction with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development on Friday to discuss the upcoming budget as well as policies and programmes of the government, Finance Minister Sharma suggested not to use the word grant as the agriculture sector needs encouragement. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"When making the budget for the upcoming year, don't use the word subsidy in agriculture, remove it," he said. He said that it was important to reward the farmers on the basis of productivity.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Sharma gave such instructions after Prakash Sanjel, Joint Secretary and Spokesperson of the Ministry of Agriculture, raised the issue of agricultural subsidy in the proposed program for the coming years. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The National Planning Commission has proposed a budget ceiling of Rs 42.73 billion for the Ministry of Agriculture for the upcoming fiscal year. The ministry has said that it will propose programmes within the budget limit. In the current fiscal year, only 2.5 percent of the total budget has been allocated for the agriculture sector and the average growth rate of agriculture and livestock has been 3 percent in the last ten years, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the interaction, Finance Minister Sharma complained that there was a delay in setting up quarantine at the border despite repeated instructions. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He instructed to carry out examination of imported agricultural produce and food items and also to ensure quantity of pesticides and the condition of labeling etc. He directed to increase the production by distributing improved varieties of seeds to the farmers who are preparing to plant paddy in June-July. "Distribute seeds of high quality of paddy to the farmers immediately. We will provide some budget if needed for this," he said. “Imports should be reduced by increasing paddy production as soon as possible." </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-24', 'modified' => '2022-04-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14899', 'image' => '20220424034134_agri maize.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-24 15:40:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15147', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'State Undermines Agriculture Sector: Experts', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 22: Experts have accused the government of undermining the agriculture sector of the country. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 22: Experts have accused the government of undermining the agriculture sector of the country. Due to the government’s apathy, economists say that the import of goods that are produced within the country has also increased while the fertile lands have been left barren.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Speaking at a program organized by the Nepal Intellectuals’ council on Thursday, former governor of Nepal Rastra Bank Dipendra Bahadur Chhetri said that it is unfortunate that agriculture sector is not even included in the national policy. Chhetri said, “In fact, the government has devalued the agricultural sector. It is not the fault of the present or any particular government; all the governments are responsible for the devaluation of the agricultural sector. On top of that, even the citizens have started living luxurious life. This has put a negative impact not only on the agricultural sector, but also on the economy as a whole.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The former governor said that the agricultural sector should also be given special priority to solve the current problems seen in the economy of the country in the long run.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Another former governor, Dr Tilak Rawal also said that the government has not prioritized on agriculture. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“It is not possible to make a big revolution in the agricultural sector immediately. But the production of commodities like paddy, wheat and vegetables can be increased immediately. But the government is still unaware of this fact,” Rawal said, adding, “In the last 7/8 months, vegetables like potatoes and tomatoes worth more than Rs 11 billion were imported. We can produce such vegetables in the country itself. However, the government has not introduced any policy to address this issue.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rawal stated that the US-China trade war, the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine tensions have had a direct impact on Nepal's economy and that the government cannot be blamed. He said that imports should be tightened immediately to solve the current problems associated with the economy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Meanwhile, former finance secretary Rameshwar Khanal said the state of Nepal's economy is not worrisome. However he acknowledged that is a crucial time for the state to become alert. Khanal said, “There is enough foreign exchange reserves to support six months of imports, which is enough in itself. Even if it goes down to 3 months, there is still no need to panic,” he added, “On top of that, our foreign debt repayment schedule is good. Just 3 percent of the annual revenue is enough to pay the installment. Therefore, it is unlikely that the country will reach the same state as Sri Lanka.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Former Minister Pradip Gyawali said that the investors are losing trust in the private sector. He said, “There is no guarantee that the domestic investors are safe to invest in the country. As a result, the capital is being driven off. Also, the government lacks seriousness on this issue.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-22', 'modified' => '2022-04-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14889', 'image' => '20220422012326_Agri.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-22 13:22:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15134', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Agriculture Census to Cost Rs 100 Billion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 20: The government has started the national agriculture census from Tuesday by allocating a budget of Rs 100 billion.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 20: The government has started the national agriculture census from Tuesday by allocating a budget of Rs 100 billion. The agricultural census started on April 19 and will last for 45 days. It is expected to help identify farmers' complaints, needs and problems in order to seek solutions.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Central Bureau of Statistics started the agricultural census about six months after the national census was held. The department stated that Rs 100 billion will be spent on data collection, analysis, its preparation, printing of questionnaires, enumerators’ salary and facilities. Badri Kumar Karki, the director of the department said that about Rs 720 million will be spent for data collection alone.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to him, the department will collect data for the agriculture census from all 753 local units. The census is expected to give a clear picture of the total area of cultivable land in the country at present, the main crops cultivated, livestock count, and the use of fertilizers, seeds and pesticides. Similarly, statistics on farmers with agricultural insurance, farmers’ access to agricultural credit, agricultural structure available at every local level, agricultural activities, use of agricultural technology will also be obtained.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Karki said that the current state of agriculture will be known from the data collection, which will help in making it more effective by formulating necessary policies and strategies for solving the problems. Apart from this, the census will help the government to bring additional programs for encouraging all those who have been involved in household farming.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has been conducted the agriculture census in Nepal since 1961 and is done every ten years. According to the department, about 5,200 enumerators and 1,300 supervisors are deployed in the field to collect the data.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The enumerators will collect data from 350,000 households considering them as representative households. The department said that the details of women-led farming will be collected separately, while keeping the increasing participation of women in the agricultural sector in mind.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-20', 'modified' => '2022-04-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14876', 'image' => '20220420120625_20200512091924_20190527010000_Makai.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-20 12:05:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Notice (8): Undefined variable: file [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16644', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Despite Increase in Paddy Production, Domestic Production Fails to Meet National Rice Demand ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => ' Nepal witnessed increase in paddy production this year compared to the last year. However, the country still faces short of 4, 80,000 metric tons of rice to meet national demand.', 'content' => '<p>January 2: Nepal witnessed increase in paddy production this year compared to the last year. However, the country still faces short of 4, 80,000 metric tons of rice to meet national demand.</p> <p>Nepal requires around 4 million metric tons of rice in a year. But, the domestic production provides only 3.5 million metric tons of the rice.<br /> One individual consumes 121 kg of rice on average in a year. Import of rice and paddy slumped by 6.3 per cent in the current fiscal year compared to the last year.</p> <p>The import of rice and paddy plummeted by 38.2 per cent in the first five months of the current fiscal year. </p> <p>The data at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development show that paddy including summer paddy and early autumn paddy is grown in 14,47,789 hectares of the field across the country. </p> <p>Paddy is Nepal’s major food crop. The country’s paddy productivity stands 3.79 metric tons per hectare while total national production of the food crop is 54, 86,472 metric tons. </p> <p> Compared to the last fiscal, total paddy area has shrunk by 2 per cent, while productivity has gone up by 6.94 percent.<br /> Hardinath, Khumal, Radha, and Sworna Sab are some of famous paddy varieties cultivated in Nepal.</p> <p>For self-sufficiency in paddy, the ministry has been conducting various programmes to promote paddy productivity in collaboration with local and province governments. </p> <p>The government has set up the provision to purchase the paddy at minimum support price through cooperatives. The ministry provides Rs 112 management expense per quintal of paddy to each cooperative for paddy’s storage. </p> <p>Province-wise, Sudurpaschim Province witnessed 33.33 per cent rise of paddy production this year. Unseasonal rainfall had caused massive damage to paddy in Kailali and Kanchnapur last year.</p> <p>Likewise, Lumbini Province, Province 1, Karnali and Madhes Province witnessed 15.2 per cent, 5.72, 3.46 and 0.18 per cent growth respectively in the current fiscal compared to the last fiscal. </p> <p>However, paddy production plummeted by 1.45 per cent and 3.74 per cent in Bagmati and Gandaki Province respectively. </p> <p>Availability of chemical fertilizers, increasing use of improved seeds and farmers’ access to agriculture technicians have led to the rise of paddy produce, according to the ministry.</p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-02', 'modified' => '2023-01-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16385', 'image' => '20230102053729_collage (25).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-02 17:34:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16549', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Government Delays to Fix Support Price for Sugarcane; Farmers Likely To Face Old Predicament ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'With fixing of the date to crush the sugarcane by the sugar mills, sugarcane producing farmers have started harvesting sugarcanes. The government, however, has not shown any concern to fix the minimum support price for the sugarcane yet. ', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">December 18: With fixing of the date to crush the sugarcane by the sugar mills, sugarcane producing farmers have started harvesting sugarcanes. The government, however, has not shown any concern to fix the minimum support price for the sugarcane yet. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Sugarcane producing farmers are busy harvesting sugarcanes in Sarlahi, Bara, Rautahat, Kapilvastu, Kailali, and Kanchanpur in Tarai. After a few days, they will start selling their produce. But, the government not fixing the support price has left them worried and disappointed. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">In the case of paddy, the government fixed the minimum support price after the paddy producing farmers had sold out their produce to manage their household expenses. Farmers with weak financial condition had sold out their paddy to the traders up to at Rs 800 per quintal cheaper price before the government determined the minimum support price.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Sugarcane Producing Farmers Struggle Committee Sarlahi’s Secretary Harishyam Ray says that almost all of the farmers had started harvesting the sugarcane as sugar mills had already fixed the date to crush the sugarcane.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">“Sugarcanes have started drying up. Delaying to harvest them will lose their weight. The government should have fixed the minimum support price by now. We do not know why the government is delaying to fix the price”, Ray wondered. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Ray informed he has planted sugarcane in three bigahas of the land. He used to plant sugarcanes in 18 bigahas of the land until four years ago. “Owing to delay to fix the minimum price, non-payment of the sugarcanes for a long time by mill owners, soaring cost of production, I have reduced sugarcane cultivation”, shared Ray. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Sugarcane farmers have to protest to receive money of the their produce against sugar mill owners.<br /> Sugarcane farmers from Tarai have staged the protest in Kathmandu to force the sugar mills to pay them for their produce in the past years.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The government had issued warning to arrest the sugar mill owners for non-payment to the farmers. The government fixes minimum support price of paddy, wheat and sugarcane, among others, to ensure farmers’ cost of production and stop middlemen from cheating farmers.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Stakeholders, however, say that minimum price fixed by the government is a game to trick farmers.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Sugarcane Farmers’ Struggle Committee Coordinator Rakesh Mishra says that farmers can not benefit as the government delays to fix the price though the provision has it that the government has to determine the price before farmers plant the crops.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Meanwhile, Ministry of Agriculture, and Livestock Development, however, said that it was preparing to present the proposal to fix the minimum price of sugarcane to the Cabinet. </span><br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Spokesperson Prakash Kumar Sanjel at the ministry said that sugarcane’s support price would be fixed in a matter of few days. “The ministry has completed all technical work. Now, we will hold a meeting with all stakeholders and fix the price”, added Sanjel. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Farmers have been accusing the government of fixing the price arbitrarily by not inviting their representatives. They complain that support price is always lower than their cost of production since their representatives are not invited in the meeting held to fix the support price of the sugarcane. </span></p> <p><br /> <span style="font-size:18px">Sugarcane farmers have started selling their produce to jaggery industries at cheaper price since they are fed up with the government delay to fix the support price and non-payment of their produce by the sugar mill owners. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-18', 'modified' => '2022-12-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16290', 'image' => '20221218063838_collage (9).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-18 06:32:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16513', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Paddy Production Rises in Palpa', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Compared to the last year, paddy production has increased in Palpa this year.', 'content' => '<p><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:20px">December: Compared to the last year, paddy production has increased in Palpa this year. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">According to Agriculture Knowledge Center Palpa Chief Kamana Adhikari, Palpa produced 32,019 metric tons of paddy this year. Paddy was cultivated in 8,210 hectares of the land in the district.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">“Disease and insects attacked paddy at seed-bearing time. Despite this, their effect was less than expected”, added Adhikari.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">The district had produced 31,428 metric tons of the paddy cultivated in 8,206 hectares of the land. “Increasing use of modern technology, and use of improved seeds recommended by agriculture technicians have led to the rise od paddy production”, said Center’s Information Officer Milan Gaire.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">Farmers have been planting various species of paddy such as sabitri, hybrid, sanwa mansuli, US-312, shnati, khumal-3, among others, in the district. Local paddy types are hardly cultivated these days. Peasants and farmers cultivate improved seed to increase productivity. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">Adequate rainfall at the time of paddy plantation and construction of canals have encouraged farmers to plant paddy. Use of thresher machine and tractor has made paddy cultivation easy for famers, motivating them to plant the paddy even in the barren field of late. </span></p> <p><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-13', 'modified' => '2022-12-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16254', 'image' => '20221213100633_collage (4).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-13 10:00:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16501', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Cardamom Price Drops', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Cardamom price has fallen of late. A maund of cardamom sells at Rs 24,000 at Jhapa’s Birtamod. Per maund of cardamom would fetch Rs 26,000 just a week ago in the same market.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"> </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">December 11: Cardamom price has fallen of late. A maund of cardamom sells at Rs 24,000 at Jhapa’s Birtamod. Per maund of cardamom would fetch Rs 26,000 just a week ago in the same market. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Cardamom entrepreneurs say that low demand for the cardamom has driven the price down this year. “Of late, production of the cardamom has gone up where as demand has shrunk which has led the price to drop”, said cardamom entrepreneur Narendra Tiwari. He has collected around 400 maunds of cardamom this year. Out of them, Tiwari has purchased half of them at Rs 29,000 per maund from farmers. “I have stored most of the cardamom in the godown due to price fall”, Tiwari added.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Meanwhile, farmers are also waiting for right price to sell their produce. Though they have handed over their product to traders, peasants have not reduced the price. “We are confused as the price is fluctuating”, said farmer Raj Kumar Bhattarai.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Price letup has also put big traders in trouble as they have to bank on Indian market. “The cardamom sold up to Rs 48,000 per maund last year. Since then, the price has been dipping”, cardamom farmers and traders say. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-11', 'modified' => '2022-12-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16242', 'image' => '20221211054014_collage (4).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-11 17:35:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16498', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Farmers to Stage Sit-In to Press the Government to Purchase Paddy ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Farmers led by their organizations are preparing to stage sit-ins at food depots across the country to press the government-owned Food Management and Trading Company(FMTC) to start purchasing paddy at the minimum support price set by the government from today(Sunday). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"> </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">December: Farmers led by their organizations are preparing to stage sit-ins at food depots across the country to press the government-owned Food Management and Trading Company(FMTC) to start purchasing paddy at the minimum support price set by the government from today(Sunday). </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">One and a half months have passed ever since the government fixed the support price for the paddy. FMTC, however, has not started buying the paddy except from Bardiya’s Rajpur, according to All Nepal Peasants’ Federation. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The Cabinet meeting on November 2 had decided to fix the support price for paddy for the current fiscal year 2022/23. As per the decision, price of thick-sized paddy is Rs 2,967 per quintal, and medium-sized paddy is Rs 3,128 per quintal. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">With the government’s delay, some farmers had sold out their produce to traders even before the government had fixed the support price for paddy at cheaper price. <br /> </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Paddy farmers have complained that delay to fix the minimum paddy price has stopped them from having profit. No different is the plight of sugarcane farmers. They have to agitate to press the government to fix the minimum price and sell their produce to every year.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Chairman of Nepal Peasants’ Federation Ganesh Chandra Timilsina says that blame game among the FMTC, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies is delaying the process to procure paddy from the peasants. </span><br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">“We are preparing to stage sit-ins in front of eight depots owned by FMTC except Rajapur”, said Timilsina. <br /> Farmers and peasants will stage sit-ins at FMTC’s Mahendranagar, Nepalgunj, Bhairahawa, Birgunj, Janakpur, and Jhapa depots from today.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Timilsina has said that their agitation and sit-in will continue until the government starts purchasing the paddy at the minimum price. Earlier, farmers led by All Nepal Peasants’ Federation and Nepal Peasants’ Federation had staged protest to press the FMTC to commence buying the paddy at Maitighar Mandala, Kathmandu, on Friday. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-11', 'modified' => '2022-12-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16239', 'image' => '20221211062505_collage (2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-11 06:21:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16491', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Dearth of fertiliser and seed hits Parsa Farmers ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'With the harvesting of the paddy over, farmers are preparing to cultivate wheat in Parsa. They are, however, struggling to sow the wheat due to shortage of fertiliser and improved seed. ', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">December 9: With the harvesting of the paddy over, farmers are preparing to cultivate wheat in Parsa. They are, however, struggling to sow the wheat due to shortage of fertiliser and improved seed. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">While farmers have tilled the land are almost ready to sow the winter crop, shortage of fertiliser and improved seed has hit the snag. Scarcity of Di-ammonium Phosphate (DAP) is pervasive at the time to sow the wheat crop in the district.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Earlier, the government had fixed fertiliser quota to every district and delegated the responsibility to Agriculture Material Company Limited and Salt Trading Corporation to distribute the vital plant nutrient. </span><br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Both company and corporation distribute fertilizer to the farmers through agriculture cooperatives at the recommendation of local levels. An agriculture cooperative said that it had not been able to distribute fertilizer due to manure crunch. <br /> “We have been distributing fertilizer provided to us to the farmers”, said Proprietor Hari Shankar Mahot of Young Star Cooperative located at Birgunj Metropolitan City-28. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Farmers lamented that they are having a hard time cultivating wheat crop for lack of vital inputs. “We used to import fertilizer the Indian market in the past. But, police personnel have barred us from purchasing the plant nutrient from Indian market this year”, complained Ram Balak Chaurasiya of Birgunj-16. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Not only fertilizer, farmers are experiencing the crunch of improved wheat seed as well. <br /> Meanwhile, Pradip Yadav, newly-elected member of the House of Representatives from Parsa-1, visited the offices of Regional Agriculture Material Company Limited and Salt Trading Corporations in Birgunj and held discussion with officials to provide fertilizer to the farmers at the earliest. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16232', 'image' => '20221209052853_collage (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 17:00:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15229', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Food Production affected by Lack of Irrigation Facility: NARC', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 8: A recent study has shown that only 30 percent of arable land has been irrigated in Nepal.', 'content' => '<p>May 8: A recent study has shown that only 30 percent of arable land has been irrigated in Nepal. The information was shared at a press conference organized by the Nepal Agricultural Research Council in Kathmandu on Saturday on the occasion of its 31st anniversary.</p> <p>Executive director of the council Dr Deepak Bhandari said that it is not easy to produce food grains due to lack of irrigation facility. He urged the concerned authorities not to delay in making proper arrangements for irrigation, fertilizer and technology to increase the production of paddy, wheat and maize in the country.</p> <p>Executive Director Bhandari also recalled that the budget allocated for irrigation was spent on the construction of embankment due to which it was not possible to arrange irrigation in the cultivable land.</p> <p>The research council claimed it has so far developed 723 varieties of 80 different crops which have been made available for the farmers. Similarly, digital mapping of soil has been made public and a proposal has been put forward to introduce technology to store oranges and lemons in cold storage for three months, said Bhandari.</p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-08', 'modified' => '2022-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14971', 'image' => '20220508081558_paddy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-08 08:12:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15213', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Farmers’ Organisations Demand Commercilisation of Agriculture Sector', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 4: Peasants’ organisations affiliated to the ruling five-party alliance have asked the government to include the issues of import substitute and export promotion of agricultural goods through commercialisation of agriculture sector in the government’s new policy and programme. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 4: Peasants’ organisations affiliated to the ruling five-party alliance have asked the government to include the issues of import substitute and export promotion of agricultural goods through commercialisation of agriculture sector in the government’s new policy and programme. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The organisations have called upon all three tiers of government to work for the development of a socialism-oriented economy as envisioned by the Constitution of Nepal through the development of a self-reliant agriculture economy to ensure happiness and prosperity in the lives of farmers. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal Farmers’ Association, All Nepal Peasants’ Federation of CPN (Unified Socialist), All Nepal Peasants’ Federation and Socialist Peasants’ Federation affiliated to the five-party alliance put forth such demands. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The orgnisations have also demanded that the concept of land bank brought by the erstwhile government to feed the corporate houses and multinational corporations be scrapped. – RSS</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">It may be noted that the government had enforced the Land Use Act, 2019 in August 2020. The act had introduced concept of land bank for the first time by classifying land into various categories. The new act allows government authorities to impose fines if land was not used for specific purpose.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The new act also allows the government to slap a fine of up to Rs 100,000 if the agricultural land is left barren for a period of up to three years without informing the local government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The land has been classified into 10 categories including agricultural; residential; commercial; industrial; mining and minerals; forests; rivers, streams, ponds and wetlands; public use; cultural and archaeological; and others. <em>(With inputs from RSS)</em></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-04', 'modified' => '2022-05-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14955', 'image' => '20220504124911_Agri.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-04 12:48:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15209', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Government Announces Support Price of Wheat after Farmers Sell their Produce', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 3: This year, the government announced the support price of wheat after the farmers sold their produce at a cheaper price. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 3: This year, the government announced the support price of wheat after the farmers sold their produce at a cheaper price. The government fixes the support price of crops each year to prevent them from being the victim of inconsistent prices set by businessmen and traders.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The farmers were compelled to sell their produce like wheat, paddy, sugarcane, etc. at the rates fixed by the traders and businessmen due to the delay on part of the government in fixing the minimum support price.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Harvesting of wheat has just started in the hill districts. Meanwhile, farmers in the Terai region have already finished harvesting wheat by mid-April.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Farmers cannot store wheat for a long period as they have to manage fertilizer and seeds for the next cycle of crops. This is why they try to sell the crop as soon as possible after harvesting. However, due to the government’s delay in fixing the support price in time, the farmers were unable to take advantage of the support price.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government makes purchases of wheat from the districts of Terai through its own food management and trading companies at a certain price. For the current fiscal year, most of the farmers in Banke, Bardiya, Kailali, Kanchanpur, Dang, Rupandehi, Bara, Parsa and Janakpur districts have already sold wheat at a loss of Rs 400 per quintal compared to the support price fixed by the government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The cabinet meeting held last Thursday fixed the minimum support price of wheat at Rs 3,165 per quintal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Agni Aryal, coordinator of Rajapur Paddy Super Zone in Bardiya, more than 80 percent farmers of Bardiya have already sold wheat to local traders at the rate of Rs 2800 per quintal. He said that except for some big farmers, the rest of the farmers could not store wheat for a long time as they needed to manage fertilizer and seeds in time for planting the next lot of crop.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Aryal claims that the state-owned food companies will now buy the same wheat that was sold by the farmers to the traders at a price that is little less than the support price fixed by the government. He claimed that even in the past, government employees used to collude with the traders in this way.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">About 50 percent farmers of Janakpur have already sold wheat at Rs 2,750 to Rs 2,800 per quintal. Radhesh Yadav, a representative farmer from Janakpur said, “We already sold the wheat. We do not know for whom the government has fixed the support price. If the support price is fixed for real farmers, it should be done at the time of planting the crop itself.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to rules, the government needs to determine the support price before planting. However, Uddhav Adhikari, coordinator of the Agriculture Campaign for Food says that farmers suffer every year due to the violation of rules by the government itself.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Adhikari remarked that the situation to sell products below the support price set by the government is shameful.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Officials express that the concerned authorities should monitor the situation to end this practice. Adhikari said, “Looking at the government's activities, it looks like the farmers are being insulted and the traders are being favored.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development Govinda Prasad Sharma admitted that the farmers are greatly affected by the delay in fixing the support price of wheat.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to him, the process of fixing the support price takes a long time since the Ministry of Agriculture sends the recommendation to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supply which again needs to wait for the decision of the Council of Ministers to approve it. He remarked that such a problem will not arise if the government adopts a policy of fixing prices before planting crops.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong>Hindrances for Food Management Company to purchase wheat</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Food Management and Trading Company Limited is set to purchase 5,000 metric tons of wheat worth Rs 160 million this year. However, in the districts of Terai, the purchase of crops is likely to be affected as farmers have already sold wheat.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company failed to meet its purchase target even under normal circumstances. It is estimated that the purchase will be affected heavily this year as farmers in Rajapur, Dhangadhi and other areas who have been selling wheat in large quantities have already sold it. Last year, the Food Management Company started the work with the target of purchasing 5,000 metric tons of wheat but could purchase only 1294 metric tons due to the Covid-19 pandemic.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-03', 'modified' => '2022-05-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14951', 'image' => '20220503045825_Wheat_photo-cred-Adobe-stock_E-2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-03 16:57:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15187', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Finance Minister says Staff of Agriculture Ministry did not Obey his Orders', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 29: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma complained that the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development did not obey his orders.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 29: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma complained that the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development did not obey his orders. Finance Minister Sharma said that the staff did not respond to his instruction to bring improved varieties of paddy seeds and distribute them to farmers two months ago.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> “For the last two months, I have been asking to distribute improved variety of paddy seeds to the farmers, but you (the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture) have not shown any interest,” Finance Minister Sharma told the officials of the agriculture ministry during a discussion at the Finance Ministry on Wednesday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> During the meeting, the finance minister issued a fresh directive to provide improved varieties of seeds to the farmers so that they can plant paddy in the upcoming planting season in June-July.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Ministry of Finance held discussions with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC), Department of Food Technology and Quality Control, Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supply, Department of Quality and Measurement on the topics of increasing paddy production, systematic operation of quarantine and quality certification.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the discussion, Finance Minister Sharma said that there is a pressure to reduce the growing import of rice starting from this year itself. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Sharma said, “If we use improved varieties of seeds, it is estimated that the paddy production will grow by three folds this year. Let's not delay this task. If we manage to raise the production three times by December, there will be no need to import rice.” </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sharma assured that if the improved seeds are expensive for the farmers, the ministry will issue subsidies right away. “If you need subsidy for improved seeds, tell us how much money you need, and we will issue it. We believed that rice imports worth billions of rupees can be reduced by spending little amount on seeds.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the discussion, Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini said that traders should be encouraged to import seeds. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Likewise, Agriculture Secretary Dr Govinda Sharma informed that the productivity of paddy is 3.5 metric tons per hectare on an average and that the production will improve a lot with the use of improved variety of seeds.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-29', 'modified' => '2022-04-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14930', 'image' => '20220429102042_fin min sharma.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-29 10:19:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15175', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Agriculture Sector gets Top Priority in Budget', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 27: The government intensified consultations for preparing the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) to be introduced on May 29', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 27: The government intensified consultations for preparing the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) to be introduced on May 29, as per by the constitutional provision. The Ministry of Finance expedited the process of budget preparation, prioritizing the agriculture sector in order to revive the economy in the upcoming fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">On the one hand, a team led by Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Finance Bhupal Baral is mobilized to prepare the budget on time; while on the other hand, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma is also taking the lead. The budget preparation team has decided to not prioritize “popular programmes” as the economy was threatened by such programmes in the previous years.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Finance Minister Sharma has been saying that he will give priority to agriculture since a lot of agricultural produce is being imported. The ministry is preparing the budget in such a way that it would implement effective programmes rather than increase the budget for agriculture excessively. Though the budget will be focused on agriculture, Finance Minister Sharma has instructed the concerned officials not to emphasize on subsidy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As per the suggestion of Finance Minister Sharma, the team is preparing the budget to encourage the farmers through timely availability of fertilizers, technology and through technical assistance. Prakash Sanjel, joint secretary and spokesperson of the Ministry of Agriculture, informed that the ministry was given a budget ceiling of Rs 42.73 billion for the upcoming fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Ministry of Finance, the new budget prioritizes recovery from the current economic crisis, which should not be included in the next budget. As the current crisis is expected to improve in the next three months, ministry officials believe that no special programmes should be included in the new budget.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Despite the pressure on foreign exchange reserves, it is estimated that the foreign exchange reserves will become balanced ahead of the next budget. Based on the same estimate, a senior government official said there is no strategy to bring in new programmes. However, the budget will address the issue of reducing trade deficit, the official added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The ministry stated that the budget will be based on the vision, goals, objectives, strategies, priorities, annual policies and programmes of the government. The principles of budget and priorities will also be taken into consideration along with sustainable development goals mentioned in the 15<sup>th</sup> periodic plan. In addition, emphasis will be put on efficient management of financial federalism, high economic growth, rapid economic and social development and effective implementation of development programmes and projects for equitable distribution. Also, welfare programmes will be emphasized through social security schemes.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The ministry drafted the thematic budget to ensure the required funds for projects of national pride, transformational projects, new programmes of high importance and other projects under multi-year contract. Finance Minister Sharma has emphasized on the need to merge or reject programmes or projects of the same nature.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-27', 'modified' => '2022-04-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14917', 'image' => '20220427010238_ArunYadav_Rajbiraj_RSS_17_a.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-27 13:01:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15170', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => ' Food Management and Trading Company Fails to Meet its Target of Purchasing Paddy', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 26: The state-owned Food Management and Trading Company Limited (FMTCL) has yet again failed to procure paddy as per its target this year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 26: The state-owned Food Management and Trading Company Limited (FMTCL) has yet again failed to procure paddy as per its target this year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Since the state-owned company has not been able to purchase even half of the paddy as per its target, questions have been raised about the minimum support price of paddy fixed by the government for the welfare of the farmers.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stakeholders say that the government announces the minimum support price only for the sake of announcement.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Uddhav Adhikari, coordinator of the Agriculture Campaign for Food, said the government fixes the support prices but does not give much attention towards its implementation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After the government fixes the support price, the state-owned company sets the purchase target accordingly. However, the official said that it was a shame not to be able to buy even half of the target.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The FMTCL had initially targeted to buy 30,000 metric tonnes of paddy from farmers in the current fiscal year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Later, the company said it is not possible to buy in that quantity, and then revised the purchase target. This time the company set a target of purchasing 20,000 metric tons of paddy. But the company has not been able to purchase that amount of paddy. According to the latest data, the FMTCL has bought only 9,000 metric tonnes of paddy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company has purchased 9,000 metric tonnes of paddy from nine offices, including Birtamod, Biratnagar, Rajapur and Dhangadhi.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company has procured 1600 metric tonnes of paddy from Birtamod, 1496 metric tonnes from Biratnagar, 1785 metric tonnes from Lahan, 1664 metric tonnes from Janakpur, 1783 metric tonnes from Birgunj, 225 metric tonnes from Nepalgunj, 780 metric tonnes from Rajapur, five metric tonnes from Dhangadhi and 116 metric tonnes from Mahendranagar.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company’s failure to buy paddy as per the target is not a new issue. Last year, it had set a target of purchasing 60,000 metric tonnes of paddy, but only 22,000 tonnes were procured. The company did not meet the target of buying wheat either.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-26', 'modified' => '2022-04-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14910', 'image' => '20220426112607_rice-paddy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-26 11:25:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15157', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Agriculture Sector needs Encouragement not Donation: Finance Minister ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 24: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said that the agriculture sector needs encouragement, not grants in the budget of the upcoming fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 24: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said that the agriculture sector needs encouragement, not grants in the budget of the upcoming fiscal year. During an interaction with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development on Friday to discuss the upcoming budget as well as policies and programmes of the government, Finance Minister Sharma suggested not to use the word grant as the agriculture sector needs encouragement. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"When making the budget for the upcoming year, don't use the word subsidy in agriculture, remove it," he said. He said that it was important to reward the farmers on the basis of productivity.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Sharma gave such instructions after Prakash Sanjel, Joint Secretary and Spokesperson of the Ministry of Agriculture, raised the issue of agricultural subsidy in the proposed program for the coming years. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The National Planning Commission has proposed a budget ceiling of Rs 42.73 billion for the Ministry of Agriculture for the upcoming fiscal year. The ministry has said that it will propose programmes within the budget limit. In the current fiscal year, only 2.5 percent of the total budget has been allocated for the agriculture sector and the average growth rate of agriculture and livestock has been 3 percent in the last ten years, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the interaction, Finance Minister Sharma complained that there was a delay in setting up quarantine at the border despite repeated instructions. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He instructed to carry out examination of imported agricultural produce and food items and also to ensure quantity of pesticides and the condition of labeling etc. He directed to increase the production by distributing improved varieties of seeds to the farmers who are preparing to plant paddy in June-July. "Distribute seeds of high quality of paddy to the farmers immediately. We will provide some budget if needed for this," he said. “Imports should be reduced by increasing paddy production as soon as possible." </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-24', 'modified' => '2022-04-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14899', 'image' => '20220424034134_agri maize.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-24 15:40:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15147', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'State Undermines Agriculture Sector: Experts', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 22: Experts have accused the government of undermining the agriculture sector of the country. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 22: Experts have accused the government of undermining the agriculture sector of the country. Due to the government’s apathy, economists say that the import of goods that are produced within the country has also increased while the fertile lands have been left barren.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Speaking at a program organized by the Nepal Intellectuals’ council on Thursday, former governor of Nepal Rastra Bank Dipendra Bahadur Chhetri said that it is unfortunate that agriculture sector is not even included in the national policy. Chhetri said, “In fact, the government has devalued the agricultural sector. It is not the fault of the present or any particular government; all the governments are responsible for the devaluation of the agricultural sector. On top of that, even the citizens have started living luxurious life. This has put a negative impact not only on the agricultural sector, but also on the economy as a whole.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The former governor said that the agricultural sector should also be given special priority to solve the current problems seen in the economy of the country in the long run.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Another former governor, Dr Tilak Rawal also said that the government has not prioritized on agriculture. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“It is not possible to make a big revolution in the agricultural sector immediately. But the production of commodities like paddy, wheat and vegetables can be increased immediately. But the government is still unaware of this fact,” Rawal said, adding, “In the last 7/8 months, vegetables like potatoes and tomatoes worth more than Rs 11 billion were imported. We can produce such vegetables in the country itself. However, the government has not introduced any policy to address this issue.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rawal stated that the US-China trade war, the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine tensions have had a direct impact on Nepal's economy and that the government cannot be blamed. He said that imports should be tightened immediately to solve the current problems associated with the economy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Meanwhile, former finance secretary Rameshwar Khanal said the state of Nepal's economy is not worrisome. However he acknowledged that is a crucial time for the state to become alert. Khanal said, “There is enough foreign exchange reserves to support six months of imports, which is enough in itself. Even if it goes down to 3 months, there is still no need to panic,” he added, “On top of that, our foreign debt repayment schedule is good. Just 3 percent of the annual revenue is enough to pay the installment. Therefore, it is unlikely that the country will reach the same state as Sri Lanka.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Former Minister Pradip Gyawali said that the investors are losing trust in the private sector. He said, “There is no guarantee that the domestic investors are safe to invest in the country. As a result, the capital is being driven off. Also, the government lacks seriousness on this issue.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-22', 'modified' => '2022-04-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14889', 'image' => '20220422012326_Agri.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-22 13:22:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15134', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Agriculture Census to Cost Rs 100 Billion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 20: The government has started the national agriculture census from Tuesday by allocating a budget of Rs 100 billion.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 20: The government has started the national agriculture census from Tuesday by allocating a budget of Rs 100 billion. The agricultural census started on April 19 and will last for 45 days. It is expected to help identify farmers' complaints, needs and problems in order to seek solutions.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Central Bureau of Statistics started the agricultural census about six months after the national census was held. The department stated that Rs 100 billion will be spent on data collection, analysis, its preparation, printing of questionnaires, enumerators’ salary and facilities. Badri Kumar Karki, the director of the department said that about Rs 720 million will be spent for data collection alone.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to him, the department will collect data for the agriculture census from all 753 local units. The census is expected to give a clear picture of the total area of cultivable land in the country at present, the main crops cultivated, livestock count, and the use of fertilizers, seeds and pesticides. Similarly, statistics on farmers with agricultural insurance, farmers’ access to agricultural credit, agricultural structure available at every local level, agricultural activities, use of agricultural technology will also be obtained.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Karki said that the current state of agriculture will be known from the data collection, which will help in making it more effective by formulating necessary policies and strategies for solving the problems. Apart from this, the census will help the government to bring additional programs for encouraging all those who have been involved in household farming.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has been conducted the agriculture census in Nepal since 1961 and is done every ten years. According to the department, about 5,200 enumerators and 1,300 supervisors are deployed in the field to collect the data.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The enumerators will collect data from 350,000 households considering them as representative households. The department said that the details of women-led farming will be collected separately, while keeping the increasing participation of women in the agricultural sector in mind.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-20', 'modified' => '2022-04-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14876', 'image' => '20220420120625_20200512091924_20190527010000_Makai.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-20 12:05:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
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However, the country still faces short of 4, 80,000 metric tons of rice to meet national demand.', 'content' => '<p>January 2: Nepal witnessed increase in paddy production this year compared to the last year. However, the country still faces short of 4, 80,000 metric tons of rice to meet national demand.</p> <p>Nepal requires around 4 million metric tons of rice in a year. But, the domestic production provides only 3.5 million metric tons of the rice.<br /> One individual consumes 121 kg of rice on average in a year. Import of rice and paddy slumped by 6.3 per cent in the current fiscal year compared to the last year.</p> <p>The import of rice and paddy plummeted by 38.2 per cent in the first five months of the current fiscal year. </p> <p>The data at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development show that paddy including summer paddy and early autumn paddy is grown in 14,47,789 hectares of the field across the country. </p> <p>Paddy is Nepal’s major food crop. The country’s paddy productivity stands 3.79 metric tons per hectare while total national production of the food crop is 54, 86,472 metric tons. </p> <p> Compared to the last fiscal, total paddy area has shrunk by 2 per cent, while productivity has gone up by 6.94 percent.<br /> Hardinath, Khumal, Radha, and Sworna Sab are some of famous paddy varieties cultivated in Nepal.</p> <p>For self-sufficiency in paddy, the ministry has been conducting various programmes to promote paddy productivity in collaboration with local and province governments. </p> <p>The government has set up the provision to purchase the paddy at minimum support price through cooperatives. The ministry provides Rs 112 management expense per quintal of paddy to each cooperative for paddy’s storage. </p> <p>Province-wise, Sudurpaschim Province witnessed 33.33 per cent rise of paddy production this year. Unseasonal rainfall had caused massive damage to paddy in Kailali and Kanchnapur last year.</p> <p>Likewise, Lumbini Province, Province 1, Karnali and Madhes Province witnessed 15.2 per cent, 5.72, 3.46 and 0.18 per cent growth respectively in the current fiscal compared to the last fiscal. </p> <p>However, paddy production plummeted by 1.45 per cent and 3.74 per cent in Bagmati and Gandaki Province respectively. </p> <p>Availability of chemical fertilizers, increasing use of improved seeds and farmers’ access to agriculture technicians have led to the rise of paddy produce, according to the ministry.</p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-02', 'modified' => '2023-01-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16385', 'image' => '20230102053729_collage (25).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-02 17:34:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16549', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Government Delays to Fix Support Price for Sugarcane; Farmers Likely To Face Old Predicament ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'With fixing of the date to crush the sugarcane by the sugar mills, sugarcane producing farmers have started harvesting sugarcanes. The government, however, has not shown any concern to fix the minimum support price for the sugarcane yet. ', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">December 18: With fixing of the date to crush the sugarcane by the sugar mills, sugarcane producing farmers have started harvesting sugarcanes. The government, however, has not shown any concern to fix the minimum support price for the sugarcane yet. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Sugarcane producing farmers are busy harvesting sugarcanes in Sarlahi, Bara, Rautahat, Kapilvastu, Kailali, and Kanchanpur in Tarai. After a few days, they will start selling their produce. But, the government not fixing the support price has left them worried and disappointed. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">In the case of paddy, the government fixed the minimum support price after the paddy producing farmers had sold out their produce to manage their household expenses. Farmers with weak financial condition had sold out their paddy to the traders up to at Rs 800 per quintal cheaper price before the government determined the minimum support price.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Sugarcane Producing Farmers Struggle Committee Sarlahi’s Secretary Harishyam Ray says that almost all of the farmers had started harvesting the sugarcane as sugar mills had already fixed the date to crush the sugarcane.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">“Sugarcanes have started drying up. Delaying to harvest them will lose their weight. The government should have fixed the minimum support price by now. We do not know why the government is delaying to fix the price”, Ray wondered. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Ray informed he has planted sugarcane in three bigahas of the land. He used to plant sugarcanes in 18 bigahas of the land until four years ago. “Owing to delay to fix the minimum price, non-payment of the sugarcanes for a long time by mill owners, soaring cost of production, I have reduced sugarcane cultivation”, shared Ray. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Sugarcane farmers have to protest to receive money of the their produce against sugar mill owners.<br /> Sugarcane farmers from Tarai have staged the protest in Kathmandu to force the sugar mills to pay them for their produce in the past years.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The government had issued warning to arrest the sugar mill owners for non-payment to the farmers. The government fixes minimum support price of paddy, wheat and sugarcane, among others, to ensure farmers’ cost of production and stop middlemen from cheating farmers.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Stakeholders, however, say that minimum price fixed by the government is a game to trick farmers.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Sugarcane Farmers’ Struggle Committee Coordinator Rakesh Mishra says that farmers can not benefit as the government delays to fix the price though the provision has it that the government has to determine the price before farmers plant the crops.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Meanwhile, Ministry of Agriculture, and Livestock Development, however, said that it was preparing to present the proposal to fix the minimum price of sugarcane to the Cabinet. </span><br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Spokesperson Prakash Kumar Sanjel at the ministry said that sugarcane’s support price would be fixed in a matter of few days. “The ministry has completed all technical work. Now, we will hold a meeting with all stakeholders and fix the price”, added Sanjel. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Farmers have been accusing the government of fixing the price arbitrarily by not inviting their representatives. They complain that support price is always lower than their cost of production since their representatives are not invited in the meeting held to fix the support price of the sugarcane. </span></p> <p><br /> <span style="font-size:18px">Sugarcane farmers have started selling their produce to jaggery industries at cheaper price since they are fed up with the government delay to fix the support price and non-payment of their produce by the sugar mill owners. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-18', 'modified' => '2022-12-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16290', 'image' => '20221218063838_collage (9).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-18 06:32:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16513', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Paddy Production Rises in Palpa', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Compared to the last year, paddy production has increased in Palpa this year.', 'content' => '<p><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:20px">December: Compared to the last year, paddy production has increased in Palpa this year. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">According to Agriculture Knowledge Center Palpa Chief Kamana Adhikari, Palpa produced 32,019 metric tons of paddy this year. Paddy was cultivated in 8,210 hectares of the land in the district.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">“Disease and insects attacked paddy at seed-bearing time. Despite this, their effect was less than expected”, added Adhikari.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">The district had produced 31,428 metric tons of the paddy cultivated in 8,206 hectares of the land. “Increasing use of modern technology, and use of improved seeds recommended by agriculture technicians have led to the rise od paddy production”, said Center’s Information Officer Milan Gaire.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">Farmers have been planting various species of paddy such as sabitri, hybrid, sanwa mansuli, US-312, shnati, khumal-3, among others, in the district. Local paddy types are hardly cultivated these days. Peasants and farmers cultivate improved seed to increase productivity. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">Adequate rainfall at the time of paddy plantation and construction of canals have encouraged farmers to plant paddy. Use of thresher machine and tractor has made paddy cultivation easy for famers, motivating them to plant the paddy even in the barren field of late. </span></p> <p><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-13', 'modified' => '2022-12-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16254', 'image' => '20221213100633_collage (4).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-13 10:00:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16501', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Cardamom Price Drops', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Cardamom price has fallen of late. A maund of cardamom sells at Rs 24,000 at Jhapa’s Birtamod. Per maund of cardamom would fetch Rs 26,000 just a week ago in the same market.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"> </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">December 11: Cardamom price has fallen of late. A maund of cardamom sells at Rs 24,000 at Jhapa’s Birtamod. Per maund of cardamom would fetch Rs 26,000 just a week ago in the same market. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Cardamom entrepreneurs say that low demand for the cardamom has driven the price down this year. “Of late, production of the cardamom has gone up where as demand has shrunk which has led the price to drop”, said cardamom entrepreneur Narendra Tiwari. He has collected around 400 maunds of cardamom this year. Out of them, Tiwari has purchased half of them at Rs 29,000 per maund from farmers. “I have stored most of the cardamom in the godown due to price fall”, Tiwari added.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Meanwhile, farmers are also waiting for right price to sell their produce. Though they have handed over their product to traders, peasants have not reduced the price. “We are confused as the price is fluctuating”, said farmer Raj Kumar Bhattarai.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Price letup has also put big traders in trouble as they have to bank on Indian market. “The cardamom sold up to Rs 48,000 per maund last year. Since then, the price has been dipping”, cardamom farmers and traders say. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-11', 'modified' => '2022-12-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16242', 'image' => '20221211054014_collage (4).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-11 17:35:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16498', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Farmers to Stage Sit-In to Press the Government to Purchase Paddy ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Farmers led by their organizations are preparing to stage sit-ins at food depots across the country to press the government-owned Food Management and Trading Company(FMTC) to start purchasing paddy at the minimum support price set by the government from today(Sunday). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"> </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">December: Farmers led by their organizations are preparing to stage sit-ins at food depots across the country to press the government-owned Food Management and Trading Company(FMTC) to start purchasing paddy at the minimum support price set by the government from today(Sunday). </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">One and a half months have passed ever since the government fixed the support price for the paddy. FMTC, however, has not started buying the paddy except from Bardiya’s Rajpur, according to All Nepal Peasants’ Federation. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The Cabinet meeting on November 2 had decided to fix the support price for paddy for the current fiscal year 2022/23. As per the decision, price of thick-sized paddy is Rs 2,967 per quintal, and medium-sized paddy is Rs 3,128 per quintal. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">With the government’s delay, some farmers had sold out their produce to traders even before the government had fixed the support price for paddy at cheaper price. <br /> </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Paddy farmers have complained that delay to fix the minimum paddy price has stopped them from having profit. No different is the plight of sugarcane farmers. They have to agitate to press the government to fix the minimum price and sell their produce to every year.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Chairman of Nepal Peasants’ Federation Ganesh Chandra Timilsina says that blame game among the FMTC, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies is delaying the process to procure paddy from the peasants. </span><br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">“We are preparing to stage sit-ins in front of eight depots owned by FMTC except Rajapur”, said Timilsina. <br /> Farmers and peasants will stage sit-ins at FMTC’s Mahendranagar, Nepalgunj, Bhairahawa, Birgunj, Janakpur, and Jhapa depots from today.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Timilsina has said that their agitation and sit-in will continue until the government starts purchasing the paddy at the minimum price. Earlier, farmers led by All Nepal Peasants’ Federation and Nepal Peasants’ Federation had staged protest to press the FMTC to commence buying the paddy at Maitighar Mandala, Kathmandu, on Friday. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-11', 'modified' => '2022-12-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16239', 'image' => '20221211062505_collage (2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-11 06:21:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16491', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Dearth of fertiliser and seed hits Parsa Farmers ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'With the harvesting of the paddy over, farmers are preparing to cultivate wheat in Parsa. They are, however, struggling to sow the wheat due to shortage of fertiliser and improved seed. ', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">December 9: With the harvesting of the paddy over, farmers are preparing to cultivate wheat in Parsa. They are, however, struggling to sow the wheat due to shortage of fertiliser and improved seed. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">While farmers have tilled the land are almost ready to sow the winter crop, shortage of fertiliser and improved seed has hit the snag. Scarcity of Di-ammonium Phosphate (DAP) is pervasive at the time to sow the wheat crop in the district.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Earlier, the government had fixed fertiliser quota to every district and delegated the responsibility to Agriculture Material Company Limited and Salt Trading Corporation to distribute the vital plant nutrient. </span><br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Both company and corporation distribute fertilizer to the farmers through agriculture cooperatives at the recommendation of local levels. An agriculture cooperative said that it had not been able to distribute fertilizer due to manure crunch. <br /> “We have been distributing fertilizer provided to us to the farmers”, said Proprietor Hari Shankar Mahot of Young Star Cooperative located at Birgunj Metropolitan City-28. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Farmers lamented that they are having a hard time cultivating wheat crop for lack of vital inputs. “We used to import fertilizer the Indian market in the past. But, police personnel have barred us from purchasing the plant nutrient from Indian market this year”, complained Ram Balak Chaurasiya of Birgunj-16. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px">Not only fertilizer, farmers are experiencing the crunch of improved wheat seed as well. <br /> Meanwhile, Pradip Yadav, newly-elected member of the House of Representatives from Parsa-1, visited the offices of Regional Agriculture Material Company Limited and Salt Trading Corporations in Birgunj and held discussion with officials to provide fertilizer to the farmers at the earliest. </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-12-09', 'modified' => '2022-12-09', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16232', 'image' => '20221209052853_collage (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-12-09 17:00:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15229', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Food Production affected by Lack of Irrigation Facility: NARC', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 8: A recent study has shown that only 30 percent of arable land has been irrigated in Nepal.', 'content' => '<p>May 8: A recent study has shown that only 30 percent of arable land has been irrigated in Nepal. The information was shared at a press conference organized by the Nepal Agricultural Research Council in Kathmandu on Saturday on the occasion of its 31st anniversary.</p> <p>Executive director of the council Dr Deepak Bhandari said that it is not easy to produce food grains due to lack of irrigation facility. He urged the concerned authorities not to delay in making proper arrangements for irrigation, fertilizer and technology to increase the production of paddy, wheat and maize in the country.</p> <p>Executive Director Bhandari also recalled that the budget allocated for irrigation was spent on the construction of embankment due to which it was not possible to arrange irrigation in the cultivable land.</p> <p>The research council claimed it has so far developed 723 varieties of 80 different crops which have been made available for the farmers. Similarly, digital mapping of soil has been made public and a proposal has been put forward to introduce technology to store oranges and lemons in cold storage for three months, said Bhandari.</p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-08', 'modified' => '2022-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14971', 'image' => '20220508081558_paddy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-08 08:12:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15213', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Farmers’ Organisations Demand Commercilisation of Agriculture Sector', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 4: Peasants’ organisations affiliated to the ruling five-party alliance have asked the government to include the issues of import substitute and export promotion of agricultural goods through commercialisation of agriculture sector in the government’s new policy and programme. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 4: Peasants’ organisations affiliated to the ruling five-party alliance have asked the government to include the issues of import substitute and export promotion of agricultural goods through commercialisation of agriculture sector in the government’s new policy and programme. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The organisations have called upon all three tiers of government to work for the development of a socialism-oriented economy as envisioned by the Constitution of Nepal through the development of a self-reliant agriculture economy to ensure happiness and prosperity in the lives of farmers. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal Farmers’ Association, All Nepal Peasants’ Federation of CPN (Unified Socialist), All Nepal Peasants’ Federation and Socialist Peasants’ Federation affiliated to the five-party alliance put forth such demands. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The orgnisations have also demanded that the concept of land bank brought by the erstwhile government to feed the corporate houses and multinational corporations be scrapped. – RSS</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">It may be noted that the government had enforced the Land Use Act, 2019 in August 2020. The act had introduced concept of land bank for the first time by classifying land into various categories. The new act allows government authorities to impose fines if land was not used for specific purpose.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The new act also allows the government to slap a fine of up to Rs 100,000 if the agricultural land is left barren for a period of up to three years without informing the local government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The land has been classified into 10 categories including agricultural; residential; commercial; industrial; mining and minerals; forests; rivers, streams, ponds and wetlands; public use; cultural and archaeological; and others. <em>(With inputs from RSS)</em></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-04', 'modified' => '2022-05-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14955', 'image' => '20220504124911_Agri.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-04 12:48:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15209', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Government Announces Support Price of Wheat after Farmers Sell their Produce', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 3: This year, the government announced the support price of wheat after the farmers sold their produce at a cheaper price. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 3: This year, the government announced the support price of wheat after the farmers sold their produce at a cheaper price. The government fixes the support price of crops each year to prevent them from being the victim of inconsistent prices set by businessmen and traders.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The farmers were compelled to sell their produce like wheat, paddy, sugarcane, etc. at the rates fixed by the traders and businessmen due to the delay on part of the government in fixing the minimum support price.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Harvesting of wheat has just started in the hill districts. Meanwhile, farmers in the Terai region have already finished harvesting wheat by mid-April.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Farmers cannot store wheat for a long period as they have to manage fertilizer and seeds for the next cycle of crops. This is why they try to sell the crop as soon as possible after harvesting. However, due to the government’s delay in fixing the support price in time, the farmers were unable to take advantage of the support price.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government makes purchases of wheat from the districts of Terai through its own food management and trading companies at a certain price. For the current fiscal year, most of the farmers in Banke, Bardiya, Kailali, Kanchanpur, Dang, Rupandehi, Bara, Parsa and Janakpur districts have already sold wheat at a loss of Rs 400 per quintal compared to the support price fixed by the government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The cabinet meeting held last Thursday fixed the minimum support price of wheat at Rs 3,165 per quintal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Agni Aryal, coordinator of Rajapur Paddy Super Zone in Bardiya, more than 80 percent farmers of Bardiya have already sold wheat to local traders at the rate of Rs 2800 per quintal. He said that except for some big farmers, the rest of the farmers could not store wheat for a long time as they needed to manage fertilizer and seeds in time for planting the next lot of crop.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Aryal claims that the state-owned food companies will now buy the same wheat that was sold by the farmers to the traders at a price that is little less than the support price fixed by the government. He claimed that even in the past, government employees used to collude with the traders in this way.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">About 50 percent farmers of Janakpur have already sold wheat at Rs 2,750 to Rs 2,800 per quintal. Radhesh Yadav, a representative farmer from Janakpur said, “We already sold the wheat. We do not know for whom the government has fixed the support price. If the support price is fixed for real farmers, it should be done at the time of planting the crop itself.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to rules, the government needs to determine the support price before planting. However, Uddhav Adhikari, coordinator of the Agriculture Campaign for Food says that farmers suffer every year due to the violation of rules by the government itself.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Adhikari remarked that the situation to sell products below the support price set by the government is shameful.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Officials express that the concerned authorities should monitor the situation to end this practice. Adhikari said, “Looking at the government's activities, it looks like the farmers are being insulted and the traders are being favored.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development Govinda Prasad Sharma admitted that the farmers are greatly affected by the delay in fixing the support price of wheat.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to him, the process of fixing the support price takes a long time since the Ministry of Agriculture sends the recommendation to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supply which again needs to wait for the decision of the Council of Ministers to approve it. He remarked that such a problem will not arise if the government adopts a policy of fixing prices before planting crops.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong>Hindrances for Food Management Company to purchase wheat</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Food Management and Trading Company Limited is set to purchase 5,000 metric tons of wheat worth Rs 160 million this year. However, in the districts of Terai, the purchase of crops is likely to be affected as farmers have already sold wheat.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company failed to meet its purchase target even under normal circumstances. It is estimated that the purchase will be affected heavily this year as farmers in Rajapur, Dhangadhi and other areas who have been selling wheat in large quantities have already sold it. Last year, the Food Management Company started the work with the target of purchasing 5,000 metric tons of wheat but could purchase only 1294 metric tons due to the Covid-19 pandemic.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-03', 'modified' => '2022-05-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14951', 'image' => '20220503045825_Wheat_photo-cred-Adobe-stock_E-2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-03 16:57:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15187', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Finance Minister says Staff of Agriculture Ministry did not Obey his Orders', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 29: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma complained that the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development did not obey his orders.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 29: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma complained that the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development did not obey his orders. Finance Minister Sharma said that the staff did not respond to his instruction to bring improved varieties of paddy seeds and distribute them to farmers two months ago.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> “For the last two months, I have been asking to distribute improved variety of paddy seeds to the farmers, but you (the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture) have not shown any interest,” Finance Minister Sharma told the officials of the agriculture ministry during a discussion at the Finance Ministry on Wednesday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> During the meeting, the finance minister issued a fresh directive to provide improved varieties of seeds to the farmers so that they can plant paddy in the upcoming planting season in June-July.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Ministry of Finance held discussions with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC), Department of Food Technology and Quality Control, Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supply, Department of Quality and Measurement on the topics of increasing paddy production, systematic operation of quarantine and quality certification.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the discussion, Finance Minister Sharma said that there is a pressure to reduce the growing import of rice starting from this year itself. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Sharma said, “If we use improved varieties of seeds, it is estimated that the paddy production will grow by three folds this year. Let's not delay this task. If we manage to raise the production three times by December, there will be no need to import rice.” </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sharma assured that if the improved seeds are expensive for the farmers, the ministry will issue subsidies right away. “If you need subsidy for improved seeds, tell us how much money you need, and we will issue it. We believed that rice imports worth billions of rupees can be reduced by spending little amount on seeds.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the discussion, Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini said that traders should be encouraged to import seeds. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Likewise, Agriculture Secretary Dr Govinda Sharma informed that the productivity of paddy is 3.5 metric tons per hectare on an average and that the production will improve a lot with the use of improved variety of seeds.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-29', 'modified' => '2022-04-29', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14930', 'image' => '20220429102042_fin min sharma.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-29 10:19:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15175', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Agriculture Sector gets Top Priority in Budget', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 27: The government intensified consultations for preparing the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) to be introduced on May 29', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 27: The government intensified consultations for preparing the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) to be introduced on May 29, as per by the constitutional provision. The Ministry of Finance expedited the process of budget preparation, prioritizing the agriculture sector in order to revive the economy in the upcoming fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">On the one hand, a team led by Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Finance Bhupal Baral is mobilized to prepare the budget on time; while on the other hand, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma is also taking the lead. The budget preparation team has decided to not prioritize “popular programmes” as the economy was threatened by such programmes in the previous years.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Finance Minister Sharma has been saying that he will give priority to agriculture since a lot of agricultural produce is being imported. The ministry is preparing the budget in such a way that it would implement effective programmes rather than increase the budget for agriculture excessively. Though the budget will be focused on agriculture, Finance Minister Sharma has instructed the concerned officials not to emphasize on subsidy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As per the suggestion of Finance Minister Sharma, the team is preparing the budget to encourage the farmers through timely availability of fertilizers, technology and through technical assistance. Prakash Sanjel, joint secretary and spokesperson of the Ministry of Agriculture, informed that the ministry was given a budget ceiling of Rs 42.73 billion for the upcoming fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Ministry of Finance, the new budget prioritizes recovery from the current economic crisis, which should not be included in the next budget. As the current crisis is expected to improve in the next three months, ministry officials believe that no special programmes should be included in the new budget.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Despite the pressure on foreign exchange reserves, it is estimated that the foreign exchange reserves will become balanced ahead of the next budget. Based on the same estimate, a senior government official said there is no strategy to bring in new programmes. However, the budget will address the issue of reducing trade deficit, the official added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The ministry stated that the budget will be based on the vision, goals, objectives, strategies, priorities, annual policies and programmes of the government. The principles of budget and priorities will also be taken into consideration along with sustainable development goals mentioned in the 15<sup>th</sup> periodic plan. In addition, emphasis will be put on efficient management of financial federalism, high economic growth, rapid economic and social development and effective implementation of development programmes and projects for equitable distribution. Also, welfare programmes will be emphasized through social security schemes.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The ministry drafted the thematic budget to ensure the required funds for projects of national pride, transformational projects, new programmes of high importance and other projects under multi-year contract. Finance Minister Sharma has emphasized on the need to merge or reject programmes or projects of the same nature.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-27', 'modified' => '2022-04-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14917', 'image' => '20220427010238_ArunYadav_Rajbiraj_RSS_17_a.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-27 13:01:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15170', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => ' Food Management and Trading Company Fails to Meet its Target of Purchasing Paddy', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 26: The state-owned Food Management and Trading Company Limited (FMTCL) has yet again failed to procure paddy as per its target this year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 26: The state-owned Food Management and Trading Company Limited (FMTCL) has yet again failed to procure paddy as per its target this year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Since the state-owned company has not been able to purchase even half of the paddy as per its target, questions have been raised about the minimum support price of paddy fixed by the government for the welfare of the farmers.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stakeholders say that the government announces the minimum support price only for the sake of announcement.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Uddhav Adhikari, coordinator of the Agriculture Campaign for Food, said the government fixes the support prices but does not give much attention towards its implementation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After the government fixes the support price, the state-owned company sets the purchase target accordingly. However, the official said that it was a shame not to be able to buy even half of the target.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The FMTCL had initially targeted to buy 30,000 metric tonnes of paddy from farmers in the current fiscal year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Later, the company said it is not possible to buy in that quantity, and then revised the purchase target. This time the company set a target of purchasing 20,000 metric tons of paddy. But the company has not been able to purchase that amount of paddy. According to the latest data, the FMTCL has bought only 9,000 metric tonnes of paddy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company has purchased 9,000 metric tonnes of paddy from nine offices, including Birtamod, Biratnagar, Rajapur and Dhangadhi.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company has procured 1600 metric tonnes of paddy from Birtamod, 1496 metric tonnes from Biratnagar, 1785 metric tonnes from Lahan, 1664 metric tonnes from Janakpur, 1783 metric tonnes from Birgunj, 225 metric tonnes from Nepalgunj, 780 metric tonnes from Rajapur, five metric tonnes from Dhangadhi and 116 metric tonnes from Mahendranagar.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company’s failure to buy paddy as per the target is not a new issue. Last year, it had set a target of purchasing 60,000 metric tonnes of paddy, but only 22,000 tonnes were procured. The company did not meet the target of buying wheat either.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-26', 'modified' => '2022-04-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14910', 'image' => '20220426112607_rice-paddy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-26 11:25:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15157', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Agriculture Sector needs Encouragement not Donation: Finance Minister ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 24: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said that the agriculture sector needs encouragement, not grants in the budget of the upcoming fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 24: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said that the agriculture sector needs encouragement, not grants in the budget of the upcoming fiscal year. During an interaction with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development on Friday to discuss the upcoming budget as well as policies and programmes of the government, Finance Minister Sharma suggested not to use the word grant as the agriculture sector needs encouragement. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"When making the budget for the upcoming year, don't use the word subsidy in agriculture, remove it," he said. He said that it was important to reward the farmers on the basis of productivity.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Sharma gave such instructions after Prakash Sanjel, Joint Secretary and Spokesperson of the Ministry of Agriculture, raised the issue of agricultural subsidy in the proposed program for the coming years. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The National Planning Commission has proposed a budget ceiling of Rs 42.73 billion for the Ministry of Agriculture for the upcoming fiscal year. The ministry has said that it will propose programmes within the budget limit. In the current fiscal year, only 2.5 percent of the total budget has been allocated for the agriculture sector and the average growth rate of agriculture and livestock has been 3 percent in the last ten years, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the interaction, Finance Minister Sharma complained that there was a delay in setting up quarantine at the border despite repeated instructions. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He instructed to carry out examination of imported agricultural produce and food items and also to ensure quantity of pesticides and the condition of labeling etc. He directed to increase the production by distributing improved varieties of seeds to the farmers who are preparing to plant paddy in June-July. "Distribute seeds of high quality of paddy to the farmers immediately. We will provide some budget if needed for this," he said. “Imports should be reduced by increasing paddy production as soon as possible." </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-24', 'modified' => '2022-04-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14899', 'image' => '20220424034134_agri maize.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-24 15:40:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15147', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'State Undermines Agriculture Sector: Experts', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 22: Experts have accused the government of undermining the agriculture sector of the country. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 22: Experts have accused the government of undermining the agriculture sector of the country. Due to the government’s apathy, economists say that the import of goods that are produced within the country has also increased while the fertile lands have been left barren.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Speaking at a program organized by the Nepal Intellectuals’ council on Thursday, former governor of Nepal Rastra Bank Dipendra Bahadur Chhetri said that it is unfortunate that agriculture sector is not even included in the national policy. Chhetri said, “In fact, the government has devalued the agricultural sector. It is not the fault of the present or any particular government; all the governments are responsible for the devaluation of the agricultural sector. On top of that, even the citizens have started living luxurious life. This has put a negative impact not only on the agricultural sector, but also on the economy as a whole.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The former governor said that the agricultural sector should also be given special priority to solve the current problems seen in the economy of the country in the long run.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Another former governor, Dr Tilak Rawal also said that the government has not prioritized on agriculture. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“It is not possible to make a big revolution in the agricultural sector immediately. But the production of commodities like paddy, wheat and vegetables can be increased immediately. But the government is still unaware of this fact,” Rawal said, adding, “In the last 7/8 months, vegetables like potatoes and tomatoes worth more than Rs 11 billion were imported. We can produce such vegetables in the country itself. However, the government has not introduced any policy to address this issue.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rawal stated that the US-China trade war, the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine tensions have had a direct impact on Nepal's economy and that the government cannot be blamed. He said that imports should be tightened immediately to solve the current problems associated with the economy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Meanwhile, former finance secretary Rameshwar Khanal said the state of Nepal's economy is not worrisome. However he acknowledged that is a crucial time for the state to become alert. Khanal said, “There is enough foreign exchange reserves to support six months of imports, which is enough in itself. Even if it goes down to 3 months, there is still no need to panic,” he added, “On top of that, our foreign debt repayment schedule is good. Just 3 percent of the annual revenue is enough to pay the installment. Therefore, it is unlikely that the country will reach the same state as Sri Lanka.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Former Minister Pradip Gyawali said that the investors are losing trust in the private sector. He said, “There is no guarantee that the domestic investors are safe to invest in the country. As a result, the capital is being driven off. Also, the government lacks seriousness on this issue.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-22', 'modified' => '2022-04-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14889', 'image' => '20220422012326_Agri.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-22 13:22:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15134', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Agriculture Census to Cost Rs 100 Billion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 20: The government has started the national agriculture census from Tuesday by allocating a budget of Rs 100 billion.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 20: The government has started the national agriculture census from Tuesday by allocating a budget of Rs 100 billion. The agricultural census started on April 19 and will last for 45 days. It is expected to help identify farmers' complaints, needs and problems in order to seek solutions.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Central Bureau of Statistics started the agricultural census about six months after the national census was held. The department stated that Rs 100 billion will be spent on data collection, analysis, its preparation, printing of questionnaires, enumerators’ salary and facilities. Badri Kumar Karki, the director of the department said that about Rs 720 million will be spent for data collection alone.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to him, the department will collect data for the agriculture census from all 753 local units. The census is expected to give a clear picture of the total area of cultivable land in the country at present, the main crops cultivated, livestock count, and the use of fertilizers, seeds and pesticides. Similarly, statistics on farmers with agricultural insurance, farmers’ access to agricultural credit, agricultural structure available at every local level, agricultural activities, use of agricultural technology will also be obtained.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Karki said that the current state of agriculture will be known from the data collection, which will help in making it more effective by formulating necessary policies and strategies for solving the problems. Apart from this, the census will help the government to bring additional programs for encouraging all those who have been involved in household farming.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has been conducted the agriculture census in Nepal since 1961 and is done every ten years. According to the department, about 5,200 enumerators and 1,300 supervisors are deployed in the field to collect the data.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The enumerators will collect data from 350,000 households considering them as representative households. The department said that the details of women-led farming will be collected separately, while keeping the increasing participation of women in the agricultural sector in mind.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-20', 'modified' => '2022-04-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14876', 'image' => '20220420120625_20200512091924_20190527010000_Makai.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-20 12:05:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
| Currency | Unit |
Buy | Sell |
| U.S. Dollar | 1 | 121.23 | 121.83 |
| European Euro | 1 | 131.65 | 132.31 |
| UK Pound Sterling | 1 | 142.47 | 143.18 |
| Swiss Franc | 1 | 124.29 | 124.90 |
| Australian Dollar | 1 | 71.69 | 72.05 |
| Canadian Dollar | 1 | 83.90 | 84.32 |
| Japanese Yen | 10 | 10.94 | 11.00 |
| Chinese Yuan | 1 | 17.17 | 17.26 |
| Saudi Arabian Riyal | 1 | 32.27 | 32.43 |
| UAE Dirham | 1 | 33.01 | 33.17 |
| Malaysian Ringgit | 1 | 27.36 | 27.50 |
| South Korean Won | 100 | 9.77 | 9.82 |
Update: 2020-03-25 | Source: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)
| Fine Gold | 1 tola | 77000.00 |
| Tejabi Gold | 1 tola | 76700.00 |
| Silver | 1 tola | 720.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
Source: Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association
| Petrol | 1 Liter | 106.00 |
| Diesel | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| Kerosene | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| LP Gas | 1 Cylinder | 1375.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
