By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, May 19: Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development Padma Kumari Aryal has said that modernisation is necessary for the development of the agricultural sector.
Speaking at a virtual dialogue programme on “Agricultural Mechanisation: Needs, Opportunities and Challenges”, organised by the Association of Nepali Agricultural Journalists (ANAJ) on Monday, Minister Aryal said mechanization should be made an integral part of agriculture.
Stating that farmers have 20 per cent access to agricultural transmission and 20 to 25 per cent to modernisation, Minister Aryal said that this percentage is very low in an agricultural country.
She said that emphasis should be placed on the modernisation of traditional farming and that the government had formulated a policy for agricultural modernisation and the work had already moved in that direction.
She added that the government had envisioned a digital Nepal and work was being done accordingly.
Stating that the Ministry had made the electronic map for making the quality of soil public, she said that it was a revolution in the agricultural sector. "Farmers will be able to increase their yields if they are adequately armed with the knowledge of the soil. We plan to move forward by incorporating this into future budgets and policies and programmes,” Minister Aryal said.
Technical arrangements have been made for the Prime Minister's Agriculture Modernisation Project, and the ministry is preparing to add technicians to the Agriculture Knowledge Centre, she informed.
“Our goal is to become self-reliant in agriculture, and that cannot be achieved without its modernisation and mechanisation,” she said, adding, “A Policy of “One Palika One Nursery” (one municipality one nursery) has been laid out in an effort to increase agricultural productivity. Besides, an agreement has been made to bring Israeli technology to Nepal to boost productivity.”
According to Minister Aryal, Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) is conducting every kind of research -- from small to big -- related to mechanisation. The private sector also has a big role to play in mechanisation of agriculture, Minister Aryal said, adding that the private sector had been doing a commendable job and the Ministry was committed to working hand in hand with the sector.
“Only women have been advancing the agricultural occupation in the villages as the youths are going abroad for foreign employment, so, it is now necessary to research women-friendly agricultural tools,” she said. “Currently, more women than men are involved in agriculture in the villages. They need to be provided with suitable tools. Let's research women-friendly agricultural tools for that.”
Speaking at the programme, Director General of the Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection, Prakash Poudel, said that mechanisation of agriculture is necessary to increase production and reduce costs and that equal emphasis should be laid on market management of agricultural products.
Similarly, Shreemat Shrestha of the NARC, said that Nepal does not have a long history of agricultural technology and equipment and only because our youths are abandoning agriculture, technology and tools have started catching our attention.
Devraj Niraula, an engineer at the Nepalese Society of Agriculture, said that if engineering is not linked to agriculture, it cannot not be developed sustainably.