By Rajaram Karki, Kathmandu, May 20: The gap between the investment and production in agriculture sector has increased in the last one decade.
Though the investment is increasing in agro sector, production and fertile land is decreasing. There is fluctuation in production of main crops from fiscal year 2070/71 BS to 2080/81 BS.
The main crops of Nepal is paddy, maize, wheat, millet and buckwheat. The government has been increasing budget by 10.7 per cent in agro sector per year. The government had allocated Rs 21.40 billion budget in fiscal year 2070/71 BS and Rs 59 billion in fiscal year 2081/82 BS.
A book released by the then Ministry for Agriculture and Livestock Development mentioned that 5.047 million metric tonnes of paddy, 2.283 million metric tonnes of maize, 1.883 million metric tonnes of wheat, 304,105 metric tonnes of millet and 100,335 metric tonnes of buckwheat in the fiscal year 2070/71 BS.
According to the statistics of the Department of Customs, paddy, rice, millet and buckwheat except wheat were imported from India, China, Argentina, Malaysia and other countries in recent years.
A total of 753,305 metric tonnes of paddy and rice, 299,989 metric tonnes of maize, 8,443 metric tonnes of millet and 698 metric tonnes of buckwheat were imported in the fiscal year 2981/82 BS.
Similarly, total 59.92 billion was exported to import such crops in the fiscal year 2081/82 BS. The government had allocated Rs 57.29 billion budget for the development of agro sector during the period which was more by Rs 2.63 billion (4.06 per cent) as compared to the budget.
Paddy production has been increasing by 1.034 per cent and population growth rate by 0.92 per cent per year. As per the 2078 census, Nepal’s current population is 29.164 thousands 578.
According to Senior Agriculture Economist at the Department of Agriculture, Tilak Raj Chaulagain, around seven million metric tonnes of paddy is required for around 30 million population. It is necessary to increase paddy production by 1.3 million metric tonnes for this population.
Decreasing crop yield
Three million 193 thousand and 869 metric tonnes of maize was produced in the fiscal year 2081/82. In ten years, production increased by 910,647 metric tonnes, which is an annual growth of 3.98 percent.
Wheat production has increased by eight percent, reaching 2, million 35 thousand and 559 metric tonnes. This is an annual increase of 0.8 percent.
The production of millet and buckwheat has declined significantly over 10 years. In the fiscal year 2070/71, three hundred four thousand105 metric tonnes of millet was produced, whereas it was 24,931 metric tonnes in 2080/81. The production of millet has decreased by 22.1 percent annually.
Similarly, while the production of maize was 133,000 metric tonnes in 2070/71, it was only 14,516 metric tonnes in 2080/81. The annual production of maize has decreased by 17.6 percent.
Over the past ten years, the government has been increasing the budget for the agricultural sector by 10.7 percent. The production of rice has increased by 1.034 percent per year, maize by 3.98 percent and wheat by 0.08 percent, whereas production of millet has declined by 22.1 percent and buckwheat by 17.6 percent per year.
Similarly, the area of arable land is also decreasing. According to the National Statistics Office, the agricultural census of 2012 recorded 2 million 525 thousand and 639 hectares of arable land in the country, and ten years later, in the 2021 agricultural census, it noted that area of cultivable land decreased nearly by 300,000 hectares to 2 million 218 thousand and 410 hectares.
Agricultural censuses have been conducted in Nepal every 10 years. The agricultural census started in 1961.(RSS)