Notwithstanding the successive governments’ plans to make Nepal self-reliant in food, the country is still forced to import rice, vegetables and fruits in a huge quantity from abroad. There was a time when Nepal used to be known as a food exporting nation. But the situation has reversed over the years. Nepal has favourable climate, adequate arable land and human resources to attain self-sufficiency in food, vegetables and fruits. A large section of people are still involved in agriculture but it is merely confined to a subsistence occupation. This means that the nation has failed to commercialise this potential economic sector. The pledges made by politicians and policymakers to boost agriculture have just become rhetoric. That the country has been spending billions of rupees to import the onion every year has exposed the country’s food vulnerability and flawed policy.
The price of onion has now brought tears to the eyes of consumers in Nepal. Its price has gone up to Rs. 150 per kg in the local market recently after the Indian government put a ban on its export to control its price in the domestic market. As the production of onion is not adequate quantity in Nepal, the country heavily depends on its import. According to a news report published in this daily the other day, India is the main market to supply onion to Nepal. China also exports onion to the country, but in a nominal quantity. So, the price of onion in Nepal is determined by the Indian market. The statistics of the Department of Customs show that Nepal imported a total of 106,834 tonnes of onion worth Rs. 4.21 billion in 2019/20. The import of onion was much higher in 2018/19 when the country brought some 178,500 tonnes worth Rs. 5.62 billion while it was 19,500 tonnes worth Rs. 4.84 billion in 2017/18. The import of onion fell in the last fiscal year as compared to the previous fiscal year because of the coronavirus lockdowns.
Similarly, Nepal imported about 8,010 tonnes of onion worth Rs. 295 million in the first month of the current fiscal year (2020/21). Officials at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, however, say that the country has recorded a drop in the import of onion over the years, with a steady growth in local production. In 2019/20, the country produced about 300,000 tonnes of onion in some 20,900 hectares of land. In 2018/19, the country was able to produce around 291,538 tonnes of onion.
Together with the increase in the production of onion in Nepal, its demand has also been rising because of people's changing food habit. To help increase opinion production, the Federal Government has set aside Rs. 10 million for its commercial production in the current fiscal year. The line ministry aims to provide Rs. 1 million to 10 local levels of 10 various districts. Farmers of some Terai districts such as Bara, Parsa, Rautahat, Saptari and Siraha have been engaged in commercial farming of onion. However, the local production covers less than five per cent of the total market supply. The authorities concerned need to work out plans for increasing not only the production of onion but also other crops through managing irrigation facilities, fertilizers, modern technology and incentives to farmers so as to substitute the import of such commodities.