KATHMANDU, Aug 5: The Ministry of Agriculture, Forest and Environment has issued National Agriculture Policy, 2083, with an objective of making Nepal's agro sector modern, commercial, competitive and self-dependent.
The policy, prepared as per federal governance system, has put food safety, food sovereignty, income growth of farmers, agro production growth, and import substitution and promotion of agro export on top priority.
Expressing the views on the policy, Minister for Agriculture, Forest and Environment, Gita Chaudhary, mentioned that the ministry introduced the policy with a purpose of building a sustainable and production-oriented agriculture system, dealing with the existing challenges of the agriculture sector.
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The policy has made clear policy-level arrangements to resolve problems like land fragmentation, increasing barren land, lack of irrigation and storage infrastructures, brain drain of youths, impacts of climate change, low productivity and growing import dependency.
Achieving self-reliance in basic foods, promoting agriculture commercialization and industrialization, and expanding Nepali produces in international market branding are also mentioned in the policy.
The policy has also made arrangements for developing an environment-friendly agriculture system, protecting bio-diversity, as well as connecting digital agro technology, local knowledge and innovation with agriculture development.
The issues including production and productivity growth, inclusive agriculture mechanization, land conservation and utilization, agro research and technology expansion, minimum support price, agriculture insurance, concessional agriculture loan, food hygiene and nutrition security, establishing agriculture as a dignified profession have been included in the policy with priority.
According to the Ministry, arrangements of effective coordination between federation, provinces and local levels, necessary legal and institutional arrangement, mobilization of adequate financial resources, participation of private sector and regular monitoring and evaluation have been made for implementation of the policy.
The Ministry has expected that there would be significant contribution in employment creation, import substitution, growth in agro export and prosperous national economy building from effective implementation of National Agriculture Policy, 2083.
