Transformation of the Agriculture Sector of Nepal: Retrospection and Outlook from Policy Perspectives
摘要
The agriculture sector of Nepal is in crisis due to several structural problems such as lack of coordination among key actors, weak policies and their implementation, poor monitoring and evaluation, and complications arising from the migration labor crisis, federalization and climate change. Further, there is unsatisfactory food production and productivity along with increasing regional geostrategic, geopolitical and geo-demographic dynamics in agriculture. Hence, the objective of this chapter is to initiate informed debate on the urgent need for transformation of the agriculture sector. While developing this chapter, we have used both primary and secondary sources of information. For primary information, we held extensive discussions with key policy and political decision-makers, experts, senior bureaucrats, academics, researchers, farmers associations and agricultural entrepreneurs in different forums such as workshops, meetings, conferences, round-tables, and one-on-one discussions. We have also reflected our own experiences and knowledge while working in agricultural policy issues and practices. For secondary data, we have extensively reviewed policies, laws, long-term strategies, and evaluation reports, as well as scientific literatures such as journal articles. As this chapter pertains to broader policy, our efforts were concentrated on capturing broader policy concerns raised by the public, media, political parties and parliament, private sectors, and farmers’ associations and networks. The pressures of globalization, geo-strategic, geopolitical and geo-demographic dimensions, pandemics, armed conflicts and civil unrest in the agriculture sector, adding significant complexity. We conclude that progress in the agriculture sector is not only slow, but also failing on many fronts, such as in ensuring food security, promoting agricultural trade and protecting the rights of farmers, and have hence proposed the broader transformation of agriculture sectors.