Agriculture vital to ensure food security: Minister Pariyar

Nepalgunj, Jan 5: Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development, Dr Madan Pariyar, has said the agriculture sector plays a vital role in ensuring food security. In order to realize food security, all three tiers of government need to work in unison, he stressed.

In his address to a programme organized in Nepalgunj on promotion of agro products on Sunday, Minister Pariyar viewed resilient agriculture is the need of hour because this sector is bearing the brunt of climate change.

"Increase in both agricultural production and productivity along with environmental sustainability is urgent," he said, adding that collaborative efforts of three tiers of government would help cope up other challenges like outmigration of workforce, inclusion of the marginalized community. Once the three layers of government have clarity in jurisdiction and forge collaboration on agriculture sector, it counts much for boosting production and productivity.

The project relating to promotion of agriculture would contribute to make Nepal self-reliant in agro products. Even the agricultural ecosystem would see a transformation with it, he believed. Other areas he underlined are technical capacity, policy reform and infrastructural expansion for the development of agriculture.

On the occasion, Joint Secretary at the Ministry, Dr Ramkrishna Shrestha, viewed an agriculture is a significant frontier to boost income, employment and poverty alleviation. The marginalized and downtrodden people must be ensured access to agriculture, he stressed.

An expert at Local Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research and Development (LiBiRD), Rajendra Bhari, said environment-friendly agriculture is key to protection of biodiversity. (RSS)