The government has been providing support to the farmers in different parts of the country to establish marts under cooperative model to expand their market for the local agriculture produces. The latest preparation is just a continuation of that support aimed at enabling the farmers to market their products easily.[break]
"We are soon granting permission to the farmer-run agriculture cooperatives to operate wholesale and retail marts for local agro produces in key production pockets across the country," Jaya Mukunda Khanal, secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture Development (MoAD), said at a meeting held at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers (OPMCM) on Monday.
Through the support, the government believes it would be able to eliminate middlemen from the agriculture market, enabling farmers to reap sound returns on their investment and also releive consumers from the brunt of charges they otherwise are subjected to by the middlemen.
Khanal informed the meeting that the government would also expand the agriculture pocket areas focusing on specific products in different areas to boost farm commercialization in the areas. In a bid to strengthen the monitoring of the quality of food available in the market, Khanal also said the service will be expanded by adding 10 division offices in different parts of the country.
On the occasion, secretary at OPMCM urged concerned officials to focus on policies that promote commercialization of agriculture sector in Nepal, where subsistent farming is still dominant.
Stating that increasing deficit of fertilizers is the major problem in commercialization of agriculture, Khanal said around Rs 8.52 billion is needed to procure 300,000 tons of chemical fertilizers from international markets.
He also informed the meeting that around 110,000 tons chemical fertilizers was imported since the start of the current fiscal year and 50,000 tons have already been distributed to farmers targeting winter crops.
Amid rising demands for chemical fertilizers from local farmers, the government has planned to prepare the concept paper by mid-January to set up a chemical fertilizer factory in the country. Similarly, the government has already decided to open an organic fertilizer factory in five development regions to encourage farmers to switch to organic farming and lessen the heavy dependency on chemical fertilizers to boost production.
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