Agriculture the happening enterprise to meet our needs; What role the Nepal government and its citizens play?
We know it very well that Our country is dependent on Agriculture. However, we are very aware that all the basic needs of people are coming from India and other countries. Recently, I read the news about the price of onion in Nepal. The Indian government has once more stopped the supply of onion in Nepal. We know that we are totally dependent on the Indian market. this situation can change if We promote agriculture in our country by providing different facilities for the people in rural areas. The government is undoubtedly spending money on promoting the agriculture of our country, which however is not enough. The government is providing training and development activities to the farmers. However, that is not effective. We can see the internal migration in our country. People are moving from village to urban areas to get modern facilities. The government should follow a few steps to promote the agriculture sector of our country which can really help to stop the internal migration and promote agriculture.
Firstly, the government should provide basic needs to promote agriculture in village areas. For instance, farmers have their own families with them. So the government should provide quality education in the villages which promote people to stay in the village area rather than migrate from villages to cities. Furthermore, It is necessary to provide health care facilities to the villages which creates confidence among village people to stay in the village. Likewise, If the government can provide transportation, electricity, water supplies to all local levels of our nation, that will be a great step forward from our government to promote agriculture.
Secondly, It is necessary to promote local products and stop importing international products. The government should stop all sorts of evil politics in the agriculture sector. We can see different types of syndicates in the agriculture sector which should be totally stopped by the government. We all know that the financial sector should provide a loan in lower interest rates to the farmers. Further, they should invest a certain percentage of their fund in agriculture sectors. However, this provision is not properly implemented in our country. These Financial institutions should provide loans to the farmers with an interest rate of a maximum of three percent. The special rules, policies, and procedures should be made by Central Bank of Nepal towards that effect. On the contrary, the interest rate may vary with different locations and areas. For instance, to demotivate the migration and encourage the agriculture sector, the government should provide a lower interest rate in mountain, hilly, and plain areas and guarantee the market for the agricultural produce. The local, province, and central government should be responsible to provide all chemical and other necessary supplies to the farmers without any hustle. That can really encourage the farmer to do farming in the village areas. It is also necessary to discourage importing different products from other countries and to motivate farmers to produce all the products in our own country.
Thirdly, It is necessary for the government to provide different forms of security to the farmers which would motivate them more effectively. Further, it's necessary to provide different types of modern agriculture techniques and systems to the farmers. It should also provide training and development activities to the farmers. The training and development activities should be based on a practical basis rather than a theoretical basis. The government should provide facilities for water supply in all possible areas. Furthermore, The government should provide cash and other reward and recognition to the farmers. In our country, we can see discrimination promoted by political parties. So there should be a practice of transparent selection and fair practice to select the best farmer.
Finally, We can conclude that the promotion of the agriculture sector is all about motivation, planning, leadership, organizing, coordination between the local, provincial, and central level governments. It is all about encouragement and motivation. We should also make sure that this also helps to encourage youth to invest in the agriculture sector.
Sharad Chandra Dahal, MBA Gold Medalist from Bangalore University (2013)
