December 15: Thirty percent of families in Karnali Province are self-reliant on agricultural productions, according to the National Agriculture Census, 2078. The census report made public by the National Statistics Office shows that majority of families or 70 percent of the farmers’ population cannot feed themselves with home-grown products throughout the year.    
Out of the total 302,000 families who are involved in agriculture in the province, the production sustains only 90,600 families throughout the year, states the report published by the National Statistics Office.    
A total of 82.63 percent of people in Karnali Province are farmers who cultivate food in 17,411 hectares of land.    
As a large number of people are dependent on agriculture, but the production is not enough to sustain their livelihood, the NSO has suggested the government should bring a production-friendly policy, said NSO Director Badri Kumar Karki.    
"Most of the citizens of Karnali are involved in agriculture. But the production is very low. It is necessary for the government to bring a production friendly plan in the days to come," he said.

The report states that farmers have used new technology replacing the old one. For an instance, tractors and power tillers have replaced iron or wooden ploughs, according to the report.    
Due to the increasing trend of people from rural areas migrating to city areas and foreign countries for various purposes including job opportunities, many lands especially in the hill areas have remained barren, says the report. Against this backdrop, experts have suggested the government to announce plan based on the data that show decline in production activities.
Saying that it was difficult to bring a plan and a budget due to the lack of statistics of the province, Minister for Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives of the province, Bhim Prakash Sharma said these statistics would help the government to make a plan and bring a budget accordingly.     
He also stressed the need for the government at all three levels to bring a plan so as to increase the productions and guarantee a market.    
Around 7,000 workforces were mobilised for the census and it took 45 days, said Dr Dilliraj Joshi, joint secretary and deputy chief of the NSO. -- RSS