Officials said the import of cereal foods shot up to Rs 4.19 billion from Rs 2.2 billion during the period.[break]
Short supplies of cereal crops in the domestic market also led to significant fall in the exports.
Export of cereal foods saw a sharp drop to Rs 30.19 million during 2009/10 from Rs 1.32 billion recorded a year earlier, thanks to the ban on wheat exports imposed by the government to deal with the deficit within the country.
Imports of fresh pea increased drastically over the period to Rs 218 million from Rs 8.9 million.
Officials at Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives (MoAC) told Republica that that export of meat products declined to Rs 30.5 million in 2009/10 from Rs 100 million recorded in the previous year. Exports of lentil and large cardamom also plummeted to Rs 3.74 billion and Rs 1.17 billion from Rs 5 billion and Rs 1.34 billion respectively.
“Deficit of food items in domestic market brought down the export of cereal food during the period. Viral disease in cardamom hit production and subsequently affected exports.
Similarly, lentil exports came down due to a brief ban on export,” said Dr Hari Dahal, spokesperson of the MoAC.
However, export of betel nuts, apple and ginger rose from Rs 330 million, Rs 350,000 and Rs 400 million to Rs 480 million, Rs 2.9 million and Rs 456 million respectively.
The nation exported vegetables and fruits worth Rs 1.35 billion and Rs 1.03 billion respectively during the period. Nepal imported agriculture products worth Rs 35.91 billion in 2009/10 from Rs 21 billion recorded a year earlier. Imports of potatoes shot up to Rs 1.02 billion during the period from Rs 430 million recorded a year earlier.
Likewise, imports of onions increased to Rs 710 million during 2009/10 from Rs 600 million in 2008/09. The country imported edible oils worth Rs 12 billion during the period on the back of sharp fall in oil seed farming.
“Despite gradual expansion in farm commercialization for the last few years, exports of major commodities have gone down,” Dahal said, adding: “Most of the agricultural products don´t reach to formal market due to poor market infrastructure.”
Related story
Eating junk food is bad for health!
