By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Oct. 19: Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation Padma Kumari Aryal said on Sunday that scientific land management was necessary for the advancement of the agricultural sector.
Minister Aryal made this remark while addressing the International General Assembly of the Network for Development of Agriculture Cooperatives in Asia and the Pacific organised virtually today.
Stating that there is a great potential in the agricultural sector of Nepal, Minister Aryal said that scientific land management was needed for the development of the agricultural sector. “We are moving ahead with the scientific division of land through Land Use Act and utilization of land as per the division,” Minister Aryal said.
Minister Aryal, who was also the chief guest at the general assembly, said that the government was implementing various programmes through small farmers' agricultural cooperatives to uplift the lives of small farmers involved in agriculture.
The Prime Minister's Agriculture Modernization and Prime Minister's Self-Employment Programme are also programmes for the development of the agricultural sector, Minister Aryal said, adding that many development works could be done through the development of the agricultural sector.
Land management policy has been put forward for the prosperity of the nation under the concept of sustainable development, Minister Aryal said, adding that a plan had been formulated to classify the land through the Land Use Act and use it as the major foundation of prosperity.
“Unused land will be distributed to landless squatters on the basis of livelihood and settlement status, ending long-standing informal land relations," said Minister Aryal. “Arrangements have been made to use it accordingly.”
Minister Aryal said that the work of preparing technology-based infrastructure with long-term thinking, inclusion of all lands in land administration and protection of land, and commercial and collective farming through cooperatives had been taken forward.
Minister Aryal said that cooperatives should play a crucial role to implement farmer-targeted programmes to improve their living standard by creating productive employment and self-employment by cultivating land.
She said that the concept of land bank had been introduced for the optimum use of land. Special emphasis will be laid on production/processing and marketing through cooperative market development programme, she informed.
The government is preparing to bring concessional loan programme for skill-based entrepreneurship. This will help them to raise their living standards, said Minister Aryal.
Stating that the world is currently plagued by the COVID-19 pandemic, she said that special emphasis should be laid on agriculture to cope with the crisis caused by the pandemic.
She expressed the belief that the agricultural sector would be very important in the mainstream of the member nations' economy to ensure food security, reduce poverty and move forward in sustainable development.