January 17: The government is planning to introduce 'agriculture meter' to facilitate irrigation in the farmlands. The electricity meters will be provided to the farmers in an attempt to promote agricultural production and make farmers self-reliant, the authorities said.

If things go as planned, the government is working to expand power grid up to the farmlands to meet the farmers' demand.    
The Ministry of Energy, Water Resource and Irrigation will coordinate with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development to achieve this goal.    
Likewise, the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been asked to work on expansion of power grid for the development of irrigation projects.

Minister for Energy Shakti Bahadur Basnet on Tuesday held discussions at the ministry with the leadership of National Farmers' Commission, the NEA and other stakeholders regarding this issue.    
On the occasion, Minister Basnet said that modernizing and commercializing the agriculture sector can generate employment and also increase food sufficiency. -- RSS