Experts discuss climate risks facing agriculture, solutions in Karnali

BY NABIN SUBEDI, Surkhet, Dec. 11: Experts have expressed their concerns over the impact of climate change on the agricultural sector in Karnali. Stating that Karnali is suffering from food security problem, they on Wednesday stressed the importance of commercial farming and said that agriculture sector is facing growing risk of disease outbreak due to changing climate. 

In a provincial level agricultural technical working group meeting, director of Surkhet Directorate of Agricultural Development Chitra Bahadur Rokaya said that due to the climate change, there had been a problem of orange seeds bursting in Dailekh, Jajarkot and Surkhet districts. Farmers in these places have faced problems during a pick season of plucking ripe fruits. Not only seed bursting, farmers have faced other problems like moths in maize and yams, stem dryness of rice plant, seed rotting of tomatoes, crops and fruits. 

Different types of crops, fruits and livestock are raised according to the geography of different districts in Karnali province. 

However, the government and non-government agencies working in the field of agriculture are worried that there may be a decline in the agricultural production as the challenge is increasing every year due to new types of diseases found in the crops and fruits attributable to climate change. 

The Directorate informed that if the problems are seen in crops, fruits and animal husbandry, they are sent to the Dasharathpur Agricultural Research Directorate in Surkhet for further investigation.

Director Rokaya said that once the investigation was completed, the results would be sent to the farmers. He added that the Directorate should make new action plans on the development of new technology and their implementation to solve the climate change-related problems seen in agriculture. 

He suggested that since the Directorate has been conducting research in areas such as high-breed crops, fruits and animal husbandry for a long time, there should be a consensus in bringing those results to the farmers’ level. 

The Directorate has emphasised on the dissemination of the researched technologies to the provincial level agricultural technical working group in order to reduce agricultural problems in future. 

Amar Bahadur Pun Magar, director of Dasharathpur Agricultural Research Directorate, said that the Directorate would identify the main problems of the agricultural sector and coordinate with everyone in implementing the latest technology in agriculture. “We are facing various new problems due to heavy and continuous rainfall, untimely rain, increase in the temperature and others,” said Amar. 

Director Amar said that a review was conducted in Dashrathpur on how to identify and prioritise problems and conduct effective research in the field of animal husbandry and agriculture in 10 districts of the country.  

Director of Nepal Agricultural Research Council Dr. Shrimat Shrestha said that the problem of food security in Karnali still persisted. “There is an immense agricultural potential in Karnali, but we have not been able to bring the research-developed technologies to the farmers. All agencies need to be serious in order to solve the problems seen in agriculture with climate change and to bring new technologies to the farmers,” Shrestha said. 

He said the agency that identifies advanced technology was going to adopt new strategies to disseminate it to the farmers on a grand scale. He added that the Directorate was serious in implementation of new technologies at the farmers’ level. 

Karnali has a total area of ​​2,525,275 hectares. Of which 8.5 per cent (216,880 hectares) is cultivable land. Among the cultivable land, 82,495 hectares is left barren and used for non-agricultural purpose.