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Pandemic and Agriculture in Nepal |
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by Prajwal Shrestha | 14-05-2020 17:31
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Syd Moore has rightfully said - “Disregard for the past will never do us any good. Without it we cannot know truly who we are.” The quote shows our present situation of our country. We have been bragging to the world, to our students, to our teachers that ‘Nepal is an agricultural country’. This statement has been in our tests, class lectures, reports how our country is truly an agricultural country but sadly in the present context the statement is no longer valid. Now we need to change the statement as ‘Nepal is a remittance country’ as now our country’s development, economy is starting to fully depend upon on remittance and foreign employment. The number of foreign employment seekers in Nepal has escalated over the years which on the bright side seems that proper utilization of youth energy, increase in remittance amount to the country but on the other side we see more number of productive land are left unused and thus barren as well as loss of those precious nutrient present on the land. Only the elderly and children are now left in major villages where there are a lot of productive fields and they are only able to cultivate lands which can sustain the family members whereas the family used to do commercial farming in the past. This is the bitter truth of our society. While in the past Nepal was capable of exporting major cereal crops and Nepal was also self-sustained in terms of the day to day consumed food but now, we are not able to do so, the reason large number of unused lands, lack of manpower or brain drain. Youths are finding more opportunity, facility to utilize their talents, knowledge and energy but the youths are also having a blind spot on how much Nepal has to offer and simple example of the sector where the youths can flourish: agriculture. Technology specialist, engineers, microbiologist, agriculturist you name it many of the youths having their major in different subjects are needed in agricultural field. Nepal now faces a new problem of handling the economic crisis post-pandemic as now most of the work are shut and the country is not able to earn. During the pre-COVID-19 crisis in Nepal, youths started return to their homeland and in this quarantine are now living with their families in their hometown. The first impact of the lock down as seen on the farmers, as the number of consumers of perishable goods or agricultural goods in the major cities have diminished due to which farmers are forced to leave their produce on the farm just to be decomposed. Lack of proper market facilities and plans to look after the farmers and their produce have caused not only pandemic crisis but also food crisis which has caused the most impact on the poor communities. The Government effort on handling the health crisis is commendable but the way the government is neglecting the farmers can cause food security problem all over the country. With this pandemic and the response toward the effect and consequences is mostly can be seen on the farmers and the entrepreneurs as they start to get demoralized and they start to seek different jobs thus further decrease the manpower towards the agricultural sector. Right now, the private sector can play a vital role in helping the farmers of our society by giving them proper market such as the online shopping of fresh foods at a reasonable price which can help the farmers to earn and sustain their life in these difficult times. The private sectors can also involve the farmers in their institution thus establishing a stable future for the farmers and other agricultural entrepreneurs. When a farmer or the entrepreneur has a stable future as a long-term job then chain reaction can occur as more youths start to invest themselves in this field which not only benefits themselves by having a long term job but also helping in boosting the country’s economy finally reviving the old saying “Nepal is an Agricultural country”. During the post pandemic the government should plan on creating attractive, long term, plans and programs to attract the youths who do not or may not have stable future abroad. The joint collaboration of the private sectors as well as the government bodies can truly attract thousand of youths in the field of agriculture as well as encourage the farmers and entrepreneurs to work even more hard. |
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7 Comments
Hello Prajwal,
Indeed our country has become agricultural country just in texts rather than in real practice. It sounds so unpleasant but the truth is we are misheeding our country's potentiality on agriculture.
Hope to see some strong stragies on agriculture sector in coming days and more importantly at this time.
Thanks for the insightful report.
Regards,
Asmita
Posted 20-05-2020 23:06
Hello prajwal
I hope you are doing well
Nepal, although being an agricultural country and with most people in this sector as well have to import most of it's food from other countries. I hope the nation would truly be an agricultural country.
Thank you so much for your report.
Keep writing
Green cheers
Regards
Asmita Gaire
Posted 19-05-2020 10:53
THANKS FOR SHARING
Posted 18-05-2020 23:30
Hello Prajwal,
I hope you are doing great
Thank you for raising a crucial topic
The government of Nepal and the people of Nepal especially the youth have to understand the importance of agriculture and have to take it to a next level.
Keep writing and shining
Regards
Himani
Posted 17-05-2020 16:59
Thank you Sonika and Bal krishna
Posted 16-05-2020 14:43
Hello Prajwal!
I hope you are doing fine and doing great!
Agriculture can be on of the best sector to overcome the loss created from this pandemic.
Thanks for sharing!
GREEN CHEERS !
Regards,
Sonika
Posted 14-05-2020 23:56
thanks for this report. Great
Posted 14-05-2020 19:46