September 8: The Seventh National Agricultural Census 2078 released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) in Thursday shows that only 45 percent of households involved in farming in Nepal, a predominantly agricultural country, are able to cultivate food crops enough to feed themselves throughout the year.

According to the agricultural census data, out of the total 66,67,000 households in Nepal, 41,30,789 families depend on agriculture for their livelihood. It means that 62 percent of the households in Nepal are engaged in agriculture.

Among them, 45 percent of the families are able to feed themselves all year round with the income from their own agricultural production.

In other words, roughly around 18,57,000 families involved in agriculture can feed themselves throughout the year while  the number of farming families who cannot feed themselves all year round with their own produce stands at around 22,74,000, which is 55 percent.

In the last decade, the number of families involved in farming that could produce enough for a year has increased by 5 percentage points. In the previous count, the number of farming families who could feed themselves round the year their own produce was 40 percent.

Director of Agriculture and Livestock Counting Branch of the NSO, Badri Kumar Karki, said that the easy availability of chemical fertilizers, the use of advanced seeds and the availability of pesticides for crop diseases are the main reasons for the increase in the number of farmers who have adequate access to food.

However, he says that this increase cannot be considered satisfactory as the number of people shifting from agricultural profession to other professions is increasing.

Around 47 percent of the families involved in farming say that they do not have enough food for 4 to 6 months. Likewise, 24 percent of the families say that they do not have enough food for three months. As per the previous agricultural census, the percentage of families not having enough food for 6 months was 44 and those who did not have enough food for even 3 months was 18 percent.

In order to make up for the shortfall, 62 percent of the families involved in farming make a living by doing labor work within the country. Eighteen percent said that they opted for foreign employment.

Likewise, 10 percent of the households said that they are engaged in non-agricultural works while 5 percent said they took loans meet the daily expenses.

Uddhav Adhikari, coordinator of the Agricultural Campaign for Food, said that the agriculture sector has been affected by damage caused by wild animals and climate change among others.

The area of cultivated land decreased

In the last decade, the area of agricultural land in Nepal has decreased. According to the seventh agricultural census 2078, the country has 2.2 million hectares of arable land. Compared to the agricultural census of 2068, the cultivable land has declined by 308,000. Back then, farmers used to cultivate on 2.5 million hectares of land.

Although the area of cultivated land has decreased, the number of families engaged in agricultural work has increased, the data shows. According to the new data, the number of farming families has increased by around 300,000. Currently, around 41,31,000 families are involved in agriculture across the country. In 2068, this number was roughly around 38,31,000.

Director Karki says that this number has increased not because of people leaving other professions and embracing agriculture, but because of the breakup of families engaged in agricultural work.