A Review Report on - Rural Reconstruction Nepal · A Review Report on ... DDC District Development Committee DFO District Forest Officer DLSO District Livestock Support Office

A Review Report on POLICIES AND PRACTICES ON

FOOD SECURITY AND RIGHT TO FOODin Nepal

Rural Reconstruction Nepal (RRN)

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A Review Report on

POLICIES AND PRACTICES ON FOOD SECURITY AND RIGHT TO FOOD in Nepal

Contributors:Ratna KarkiBirendra Adhikari

Publication date:February 2016

Publisher:Rural Reconstruction Nepal (RRN) P. O. Box: 8130, Kathmandu, Nepal

St. Address:288 Gairidhara Marg, Gairidhara, Kathmandu, NepalTel: +977-1-4004976, 4004985Fax: +977-1-4004508Email: [email protected]: www.rrn.org.np

© RRN, 2016

Publication support:Bread for the World, Germany

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TABLE OF CONTENTSAcronyms iii

Executive Summary vii

1. Introduction 1

1.1 Background of the study 1

1.2. Need for the study 1

2. Objective and Methodology 11

2.1. Objective of the study 11

2.2. Methodology 11

3. Findings of the Study 133.1 Central level 13

3.2. Review of reports on food security and nutrition 21

3.3. Scope of central level team for influencing food security related activities 22

3.4. Gaps at the central level 23

3.5. District level observations 40

3.6. VDC level observations 44

4. Recommendations 47

Annexes 51Annex.1: List of food surplus and food deficit districts in 2013/14 51

Annex.2: Food availability and requirement across the regions in 2013/14 53

Annex.3: Import and export value of all food items Rs. in million in 2013/2014 55

Annex 4: National social policies 57

Bibliography 61

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List of Tables

Table 1: Summary of food surplus and food deficit in 2013/14 35

Table 2: Food deficit district and corresponding food deficit amount(Mt.) in 2013/14 36

Table 3: Summarised table of import export of agricultural commodities in 2013/2014 38

Table 4: District level budget allocations and expenditures (2071-2072) 41

Table 5: Budget allocation to agriculture across the VDCs in three districts 44

List of Figures

Figure 1: Contribution to GDP % by different component in the year -2013/14 (MOAD 2013/14) 2

Figure 2: Percentage of agricultural budget and AGDP growth over the years 27

Figure 3: % Share in of research and extension total agriculture budget 28

Figure 4: Principal agricultural production 000' MT. over the years 31

Figure 5: Research extension coordination for technology verification and dissemination 33

Figure 6: Need of multi-stakeholders involvement in ginger production and processing 43

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ABBREVIATIONSAGDP Agriculture Gross Domestic ProductABP Agriculture Business PolicyADS Agriculture Development StrategyAPP Agriculture Perspective Plan CAC Citizen Awareness Centre CBS Central Bureau of StatisticsCF Community ForestryCLDP Community Livestock Development ProgrammemeCSO Civil Society OrganisationDADO District Agriculture Development OfficeDAG Disadvantage Group DDC District Development Committee DFO District Forest OfficerDLSO District Livestock Support OfficeDOA Department of AgricultureDOI Department of Irrigation DOF Department of ForestDW Drinking WaterGDP Gross Domestic ProductGESI Gender Equity and Social InclusionGON Government of Nepal FWDR Far Western Development RegionHH HouseholdHVAP High Value Agriculture ProductHIMALI High Mountain Agribusiness and Livelihood Improvement

HIMALI Project IFAD International Fund for Agriculture DevelopmentILLINOIS University of ILLONOIS at Urban-ChampaignIPM Integrated Pest ManagementITK Indigenous Technical Knowledge

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KUBK Kisankalagi Unnat Biu-Bijan KaryakramLDC Least Developed CountryLGCDP Local Governance Community Development

Programmeme LSGA Local Self-Governance Act MEAS Modernising Extension and Advisory ServiceMoAC Ministry of Agriculture and CooperativesMoAD Ministry of Agriculture DevelopmentMoCPA Ministry of Cooperatives and Poverty AlleviationMoFALD Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local DevelopmentMOFSC Ministry of Forest and Soil ConservationMoI Ministry of Irrigation MoIS Ministry of IndustryMoWCSW Ministry of Women, Children and Social WelfareMWDR Mid-Western Development RegionNARC Nepal Agriculture Research CouncilNAP National Agricultural PolicyNGO Non-Government OrganisationNPC National Planning Commission NTSOAS National Technical Standard for Organic Agriculture

SystemPACT Project for Agriculture Commercialisation and TradePPCR Pilot Programmeme for Climate ResilienceRISMP Raising Incomes for Small and Medium Farmers Project RD Regional Director/Directorate TYIP Three Year’s Interim Plan UNICEF United Nations Children's FundUSAID U.S. Agency for International DevelopmentVDC Village Development Committee WDR Western Development RegionWFC World Food ConferenceWTO World Trade Organisation

Policies and Practices on Food Security and Right to Food in Nepal

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The study was carried out in three tiers of governance, i.e. at the centrallevel, district level and VDC level, to review the policy provisions andpractices of the line ministries, departments and other relevant agencieson food security, income generation and livelihood of the deprivedpeople, from the right based perspectives. The study considered threedistricts with nine VDCs from MWDR, six ministries from the central leveland the allied agencies involved in food security and poverty alleviation.In order to collect the information, the focal persons of the respectiveoffice were visited, the planning documents, progress reports andproceedings were reviewed, and interactions were held with the groups.

The study revealed that the present situation of Nepal is beingdeteriorated by large trade deficit, unemployment and increasing foodinsecurity attributed to sluggish agricultural production, low productivity,meagre industrial growth and very little recognition of the rights of thedeprived communities. Statistics show that 25% population is still livingbelow the poverty line which enforces >50,000 youths to join unskilledjobs in the gulf and other countries. Although agriculture and forestrysectors contribute 34% to the GDP and engage over 66% of thepopulation in the economic activities, the sectors receive < 6% of the totalnational budget for research and development. This can also be linkedwith low agricultural production in the country as 30 districts are reportedfood deficit in 2013/14, where large amount of national budget has beeninvested (127,505 million US$) for importing the food commodities.Compared to the volume of the import, the export (26,503 million US$)is appallingly proportionating 5:1 in the same period (2013/14). Foodinsecurity and poverty are precisely concentrated to the ultra-poor,marginal ethnic groups and women, resulting in miserable incomes andnutrition. Children under 5 years are in an alarming state of underweight(29%), stunted (41%), undernourished (16%), the population having noaccess to minimum calorie 41% and 29% population with malnutrition.

In the next fiscal years, Agriculture Development Strategy (2016-2036),the 20 years’ visions with 10 years’ of action plan in agriculture has aimedto implement food equality (85% HH), agricultural export (1999, millionUS$), multi-fold increase in AGDP (US$4787) with a trade surplus of 690million US$ and a self-sufficiency of food grains (5% surplus) at the end.

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In the Development Vision 2030, NPC envisages per capita income of US$7517 and a significant drop in population (5%) below the poverty line by2030. Both the documents have anticipated multi-stakeholder supportfrom the public, private and I/NGOs sector. For this, a strong coordinationamong NPC, different ministries, departments, I/NGOs, right-basedorganisations and private sector is inevitable.

In order to assess the strategic missions, the report has reviewed majorFood Acts, Policies and Guidelines of the ministries and activities of someallied agencies. Similarly, the study has revealed common avenues incontributing and achieving food security, income generation and povertyalleviation. However, there is neither a proper understanding about thepolicies and guidelines nor the implementation has taken place becauseof the lack of functional coordination and cooperation between thedevelopment agencies. Some ambiguities are still prevalent about thedefinition among the agencies involved in food security. Some advocateit as a right-based approach, whereas others believe this as an individualresponsibility. Similarly, there is a uniformity in its operation as a numberof organisations have considered all the four pillars of food securitywhereas others have concentrated mainly on food supply. This has ratherwidened the food insecurity situation mainly in the remote hilly areas. Inthe planning of the food security, a formal system of committee, knownas Agriculture, Forestry and Environment Committee (AFEC) exists, but ithas been overshadowed by the VDC Secretary and LDO in the districtlevel. Moreover, the absence of the elected local bodies in the VDCs andat the district level has weakened the bottom up planning process. Theperiodic plans prepared by the districts (>45) with an investment ofconsiderable amount of financial and human resources have not beenoperationalised.

This study revealed that low level of investment in agriculture sector hasbeen the major factor in low production, resulting in increased levels offood insecurity. Therefore, an emphasis has been made to increase thenational budget in agriculture sector, considering its 34% contribution tothe GDP. In contrary to this contribution, the allocation of 3-4% of thebudget is unfair to meet the expectations that cause stagnation of theagriculture growth. Simultaneously, the agriculture sector has beenconfined to the subsistence level rather than expanding to thecommercial scale. The lower level of investment has caused poorinfrastructure development, less motivated staffs and non-viable value


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chain. It has not only affected the scope of commercialisation but alsodiversification and industrialisation. Moreover, the funds allocated foragricultural development in the VDC level, targeting to the women andthe deprived people have not been utilised properly. Such funds areexpected to be used in the capacity building of the rural women andenhancing their skills to produce more and more foods. However,contrary to the LSGA and TYIP, such funds are largely utilised ininfrastructures and other projects. National Network on Right to Food hasadvocated for allocating a significant proportion of the budget to thetarget groups for skills development, enterprise promotion andsocioeconomic empowerment that supports their livelihood to live adignified life, as stated in the UDHR, 1948. A more pertinent need isrealised to the forced and bounded labours such as Haliyas, Kamaiyas andDalits for whom several ministries (MoFALD, MOAD, MOFSC etc.) haveenacted policies for contractual land provisions for crop production andcollateral-free loan to boost the enterprises.

The report recommends to prioritising the food security and livelihoodinitiatives to the small farmers who belong to the majority (> 60%) andare subsistence based with indigenous crop cultivars, animal breeds andsimultaneously using the forest products for food security. There is astrong need of research and extension approach to these categories withsubsidised inputs. The agricultural cooperatives need to be strengthenedto align the inputs and output marketing with a collective approach inthe community groups. Food sovereignty based planning is only themeans for coping with the small farmers’ perceptions in ecology, whichoffers good governance and right-based approaches in all the stages ofdevelopment. Therefore, the provision under Article 36 in theConstitution needs to be reflected in the laws and by-laws for assuringthe right to food, food security and food sovereignty. The legal andtechnical rapports aligned from the settlements to the national level cansupport the intended development goal of the country and contributetowards equitable benefit sharing among the target groups.

Executive Summary

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1. INTRODUCTION1.1 Background of the study

Nepal has set a goal to upgrade itself to the status of a developingcountry by 2022 from its present status of LDC, for which the countryneeds huge efforts to achieve economic, social and inclusive growth indifferent sectors. The new constitution enshrines an inclusive democraticsystem with the provisions of social inclusion and fundamental rights ofthe people. The Government of Nepal, therefore, is under preparation oflegislative and technical components required for upgrading the statusof the country. However, the core challenge is to overcome povertyeradication as 23.8% of the population is still below the poverty line,spreading to 42.3% in the mountain, 24.3% in the hill and 23.4% in theTerai (NPC, 2013/14).

Over the past few years, the country has been facing a problem of foodinsecurity. More than 30 districts fell under the category of the food deficitdistricts in 2013/14 (MoAD 2013/14). In Nepal, food deficit can be asynonym to poverty and nutrition deficit because the rural communitiesdepend their economy on agriculture. The commercially produced fooditems purchased from the markets are obviously less nutritious than thefood items produced locally. Besides, a large amount of food worth NRs.127505 million is imported from India and other countries in 2015/16,whereas the export is worth only NRs.26503 million, which is within theratio of 1:5. Nevertheless, the local production cannot substitute theimport in a short period of time. The scope of commercial farming andlivestock is very limited in the rural areas because of small land holdings(65% people holding below 0.25 hectares of land). Consequently, thereis an increased tendency of internal migration from the rural to the urbanareas and in the Gulf countries for labour migration. Currently,approximately 50,000 youths are reported to be migrating annually,leaving a significant impact of labour shortage in the rural farmingcommunities.

Agriculture is not only the backbone of national economy, but it is alsothe prime sector for achieving food security, income generation andlivelihoods of the rural people, in which more than 66 % of economicallyactive population is engaged. This sector offers both direct and indirect

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employments in various ways. A large number of agricultural labours canbe engaged in numerous agricultural activities such as farm labours,trading of the community, value chain activity and trade. Equally, subsidyprogrammemes have engaged the considerable number of people invegetable production and processing, mushroom production,beekeeping and aquaculture activities. Similarly, the livestock andforestry products are uniquely important for the large number of ForestUser Groups (FUG). This trend is most apparent in the rural, remote andmarginalised indigenous communities where there are no otherremunerative options for food security and livelihood.

According to CBS 2014, the one-third of the total national GDP iscontributed by agriculture and forestry sector (34%) followed bywholesale and retail trade (15%), construction and manufacturing (13%),financial and services (10%), transportation, storage and real estatebusiness (17%) and rest others by 11%. Out of the total in agriculture andforestry, cereals share about 49%, livestock 26%, fruits and vegetables17% and forestry 8% (MOAD, 2014) which shows large strengths ofcereals and livestock contribution (shown in the chart below) to the GDP,encompassing a variety of crops, commodities, animals and animalproducts.

Figure 1: Contribution to GDP % by different components in theyear 2013/14 (MOAD, 2013/14)

According to MoAD and MoF, the AGDP was estimated to be grown by5% in the current fiscal year, but the devastating earthquake coupled withunexpected border embargo, and the fuel crisis have led the stagnantagricultural growth rate to 3% at the basic price of the previous fiscal year.

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Introduction

Cumulatively, there is a severe effect in the growth of agriculture andnon-agriculture sector with the short supply of basic inputs, lack of rawmaterials, obstructed marketing system, labour shortages and otherunfavourable climatic conditions. The revised estimate depicts the figureson agriculture and non-agricultural sector growth in the current fiscalyear at 1.9% and 3 % against the previous year’s figure 2.9% and 6.3%.The scenario of both sectors will decline in the future if not recoveredwith the alternative functional plans and programmemes. The pastdeclining performance of AGDP growth from 2000/2001 to current fiscalyear (36.6% – 33.1%) and rising trend of non- agriculture sector in thesame period (63.4-66.9%) is likely to fall in the near future. Given thesituation, the present poverty status at 23.8% may rise and the ratio ofthe remittance to GDP can still go up from 28% (present status). Theexpected employments (2,771,309 people) from micro enterprises(around 400 thousand) and industries (>5000) registered in the currentfiscal year is largely threatened to maintain a threshold level of output(Ministry of Industry). This may further trigger the outgoing employmenttrend of youths as an unskilled migrant worker against 500,000 enteringannually (MOF, 2015, MOAD 2013/14 & MoIS, 2015).

The recently promulgated new constitution of Nepal is in the process ofimplementation, keeping all the ethnic and marginalised groups ofpeople, including the Dalit and women at the centre of development,seeking a holistic development approach with a downwardaccountability of the duty bearers. The tremendous food insecurity inmore than 30 districts and a large debt on importing food items fromIndia and other countries have invited Nepal to combat the lowproduction through rational utilisation of available resources to increaseits productivity. In conjunction with this, the national and internationalexperts have illustrated huge potentials of agriculture production in thecountry through harnessing ecological niches. ADS, the strategicdocument of agriculture development has set an ambitious goal in theperiod (20 years) and targeted multi-fold increase in AGDP (US$1804/ha-US$4787/ha.), significant trade balance ($350 million trade deficit -$ 690million surplus), self-sufficiency in food grains (5% deficit to 5% surplus)and incredible earning by increasing the agricultural export ($ 248million- $1999 million).

There is a considerable imbalance between food deficit and food surplusbecause 30 districts are reported to face the problem of food deficit, but


45 districts with food surplus in 2013/14. In such cases, the only viableoption would be to either increase the productivity by utilising the barrenland or increase the productivity by using the high-yielding varieties,inputs and technology. The other options would be to change the foodhabits from a rice-based meal to the other food crops. Similarly,considering the geographical adjacency of the food deficit and foodsurplus districts, the balanced distribution of food from the surplusdistricts can help address the problem. This issue sometimes involves therole of different stakeholders and institutions but not only of the actorsinvolved in the agricultural production. A large chunk of money investedby the nation for importing cereals and pulses can be saved by prioritisingthe agricultural productivity and increasing the national budget in theagricultural sector.

Increasing food production in Nepal has been severely obstructed by theland holding patterns and policy, since more than 30% people own largefarm area, who do not adopt agriculture as a major occupation. This hasresulted in land absenteeism, creating not only low production, but alsoworsening the productivity. The majority of the farming communities isdeprived of the cultivable land because they hold only almost half ahectare of the land. Consequently, peasant farming, agriculturalcommercialisation, diversification, mechanisation and industrialisationare very difficult. In order to address this issue, Ministry of AgriculturalDevelopment (MoAD) has laid ample emphasis through differentactivities. The unscientific land use policy coupled with irrigation,agricultural subsidy, etc are the major limiting factors for agriculturalproductions. The future policies and programmemes should addressthese aspects properly. One of the positive signs is that the Constitutionof Nepal has articulated food sovereignty issue of the Nepalese citizens.

Besides the government efforts, numerous organisations work foraddressing food security issue in Nepal. CSOs argue right to food, foodsecurity and food sovereignty as legal and political foundations forassuring people’s rights to production, distribution and consumptionwith their dietary needs. The UN Special Rapporteur defines right to foodas “the right to have a regular, permanent and unrestricted access, eitherdirectly or by means of financial purchases, to quantitatively andqualitatively adequate and sufficient food corresponding to the culturaltraditions of the people to which the consumer belongs, and whichensure a physical and mental, individual and collective, fulfilling and


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dignified life free of fear” (UN 2001). According to FAO (2013), thenutritional status of the Nepalese children under 5 was found to bealarming, which indicates 16% undernourished, 41% stunted, 29%underweight, and 11% wasted. About 41 % of the population have noaccess to minimum calorie (NPC, 2014) with 29% malnutrition. (FAO,2013/Nepal Demographic and Health).

The Department of Agriculture (DoA), Department of Livestock Services(DLSO), District Forest Office (DFO), Department of Irrigation (DoI) andseveral other organisations in Nepal are working for food securitythrough their district chapters and networks. However, these networksare not able to function actively because they lack minimum physicalfacilities and human resources, particularly in the grassroots levels, i.e. inIllaka and VDCs. The DoA and DLSO are working in the devolve mode atthe grassroots levels. Their planning, budget approval and disbursement,and implementation process are mainly controlled at the local level. Abottom up approach is used for programmeme planning and the centrallevel offices simply guide through their directives and guidelines.

However, the local authorities, by adopting a participatory planningprocess deserve full authority to develop an annual plan. The irrigationoffice can build in their programmemes in coordination with ADO.Nevertheless, the bigger projects are monitored by the regional andcentral offices. The DFO mostly works with the community forest groupsin the community level and the revised work plans are endorsed in theannual plan. The other offices such as DDC, a small cottage industry,women’s development, cooperatives, I/NGOs also have software andhardware development parts of the districts. Besides, the programmemessponsored by the donor agencies within the ministries also have bigfunds and staffing supports at the central and the district level.

Within the framework of food security and nutrition, MoAD, in additionto its regular programmemes, has launched some projects, i.e. PACT,HVAP, AFSP, KUBK, PRISM FP and IWRMP. It has also laid ample emphasisthrough ADS. The major approaches of these projects andprogrammemes are to increase the food production and productivityalong with the employment and income of the farmers. PACT, with 81.5million US dollars, has opened the space for agricultural projects in all thedistricts to support competitive agribusiness through open calls. ThePPCR project also addresses the issue of climate change in the agriculturalsector. It works in 25 districts across all regions to address the climate

Introduction

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related disasters and contributes 6 million US dollars for a period of 5years. PACT and PPCR are both funded by the World Bank. HIMALI, whichis serving for 10 districts of the Himalayan region, works for livestockpromotion.

Similarly, RISMFP is working in 10 districts of MWDR and FWDR forenhancing the economic status of small and medium-scale farmersthrough agribusiness promotion. Both the projects are funded by ADB(30 million US dollars for HIMALI and 33 million US dollars for RISMFP) fora period of seven years since 2010/11. HVAP is implemented in ninedistricts of MWDR and one district of the FWDR for high value and lowvolume crops/NTFPs promotion with 18.9 million US dollars for a periodof eight years. KUBK is implemented in WDR (2) and MWDR (4) districtswith a fund of 52 million US dollars, with an aim to ensure seed sufficiencyin the community. Both projects are supported by IFAD for five years.GAFSP is especially implemented for food security in 19 food unsecureddistricts of FWDR and MWDR, with a fund support of 57.5 million USdollars, using a good network in Karnali region.

The three-year Home Garden Project (2.8 million USD) supported by SDCis implemented in 20 districts from the east to the west. Besides these, anumber of inter and intra-governmental efforts can be seen in thecountry. The other programmemes such as USAID, Concern Worldwide,Biodiversity, DFID supported Community Development Programmeme,Swiss supported MSFP, UNDP supported LGCDP and other INGOs likeAction AID, OXFAM, CARE Nepal and a number of other organisationshave also significant involvement in promoting agribusiness, community-based multipurpose institutions and incomes to farmers. USAID alonehas been significantly assisting in many districts of the far and mid-western regions for cereal seeds around 2500 Mt. (320 ha.), geneticimprovement of buffaloes and cows, commercial milk productionthrough a dairy cow improvement programmeme, establishing goatsheds, extensive promotion of goats and sheep, control of animaldiseases in an integrated way since 2010/11 (MoAD, 2011/12).

The national-level boards for Cotton Development, Tea and CoffeePromotion, National Dairy Development, National Seed Company,Agriculture Input Company, Animal Feed, Sugarcane and SugarDevelopment also have sectoral efforts to contribute for income andemployment to the rural people. This way, the project andprogrammeme activities of all the international and national agencies are


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focused mainly on enhancing the socio-economic status of poor people,assisting to increase food production, food security and incomegeneration for contributing to the national goal of poverty alleviation,equitable development and fair distribution. Despite the multi-institutional efforts, there appears modest level of achievements in foodsecurity aspect.

To address the issue of food security and right to food, the Constitutionof Nepal under its Article 36 has provisioned the right to food, right tosecurity from food scarcity and right to food sovereignty. There are otherprovisions for Dalit, marginalised people and women for employmentand food security with specific acts, directives and guidelines to beformulated in the future (Constitution of Nepal, 2072). Not only theproduction programmemes, but also the proportional development ofother sectors such as road networks for increasing the accessibility offood distribution, awareness programmemes for changing food habitsand ensuring household incomes for enhancing purchasing powers arethe immediate needs. Thus, food security issues should not be viewed inisolation, but in a holistic development of allied sectors to ensure all therequired pillars of food security. To support the Constitution and tocontribute to ADS, there is a need for critical engagement of stakeholdersworking for the right to food issues. It demands effective coordinationand contribution of CSOs working in agriculture, forestry, gender,industry, irrigation and other infrastructures.

An appropriate linkage between the community and the responsibleauthorities with the principles of good governance is inevitable toaccelerate the process. In order to support such missions, LSGA advocatesthe bottom up planning approach where the settlement level plans arereflected in NPC through a ladder of 14 step planning process. For itsefficiency, the project planning, implementation and evaluation througha participatory approach are considered the prime mode, which seekssupport from higher authorities such as ministries, their departments,regional offices and district offices for essential expertise andmanagement and VDC level authorities for the bottom up planningprocess from VDC to Ilaka and district level, albeit, there are instances ofmismatch between the directives and guidelines delivered from thecentral to the district level. Some flaws are seen in the formulation of theagricultural activities in the district as most of them are prioritised basedon the political pressure. Consequently, most of the local-level activities

Introduction

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are planned and operated in the scattered clusters rather than thefocused pocket programmeme. In many districts, consolidation of theactivities is apparently realised to enhance the production andproductivity of the crops.

For strengthening the given issues through the right based perspective,the study was deliberated for the assessment of policy and practices ofdifferent ministries, DDCs, district level line agencies, VDC authority andsettlement level organisations projected and implied in the right to foodissues. At the central level, the policies of different ministries werereviewed and common avenues were identified, and the local-levelpractices were examined. The report of the study is organised in threechapters with several units.

1.2 Need for a study

In the past, MoAD formulated several policies and guidelines for theexecution of the programme and project activities with a view to achievestrategic objectives set in the APP. Now, the APP has been phased outwith limited achievements. The government has formulated a follow-upof the long-term Agricultural Prospective Plan, the AgriculturalDevelopment Strategies (ADS) with its twenty-year long-term vision andten-year action plan (2015/16-2035/36). Ministry of AgriculturalDevelopment has been the focal ministry for its implementation, setting2016 as an inception year. It was initially targeted for a 20-year periodfrom 2010 to 2030 AD. However, it could not be executed within thestipulated time-frame for its final verification and participatoryamendment on technical issues with various stakeholders.

In this context, it is important to assess the situation of food security, itscontributory factors and stakeholders for the successful implementationof ADS. Food security is a crosscutting issue where a number of ministriesand CSOs take a stake and contribute at different stages ofimplementation. The ministries such as MOSC, MoI, MoIS, MoFALD,MOFSC, MoWCSW and MOCPA are key stakeholders, which contribute tothe infrastructure as well as the software supports in crop, livestock, NTFPand forest products, processing and marketing. In Nepal, the foodsecurity problem has been embedded with the multi-institutional roles.

Given the large ecological and socio-economic diversity, the countryneeds a comprehensive plan for agricultural production based on the


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comparative advantage of the eco-zones. The technical expert team, thehigher-level governance authority, regional and district based technicalline agencies and local authorities are required to participate in themission so that they can analyse and develop a resource-based plan ofeach ecological domain. The Regional Directorate of Agriculture, Forestry,Livestock and other disciplines can play vital roles in connecting thecentral departments, ministries, political leaders and I/NGOs working inthe region. The eco-domains under different regions can be consideredas a cluster at the country level for recommendation of technologies,which become the foundation for enterprise scaling, assessingproduction for food security and running agribusiness/forest productson a periodic basis. Ministries and allied agencies formulate guidelinesfor the farmers of different strata, which make convenience onproduction, distribution, collection and marketing by the cooperativesin the respective zones.

The policies and guidelines of the ministries could be facilitated in apeople centred development approach so that there will be nohindrances in the process of productive campaigns. The producers andconsumers organised under the right-based network can play aninstrumental role as a partner of the mission and function as a watchdogof the working process. Similarly, the civil-society organisations, includingI/NGOs whose mandates are supportive of food security, incomegeneration and poverty alleviation of the marginalised people and smallfarmers can work together in coordination with the government mission.Therefore, studies on government policies and guidelines, assessing thegaps on coordination and field studies on the implementation status ofthe projects and programmes may explore several avenues ofimprovements on policies and practices at different governance levels.Accordingly, the study was carried out at the central level, district leveland VDC level and the information was analysed to see the effects,coherence of the programmes/project activities and coordination acrossthe governance level.

Introduction

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2. OBJECTIVE AND METHODOLOGY2.1. Objectives of the study

Broadly, the objectives of the study were to explore the agriculturalpolicies of the government and their linkages in practices across differentgovernance level, and at the field levels where the activities areimplemented in participation with the targeted communities.Specifically, it was targeted on the following points:

- To review the major laws, acts, policies and guidelines in theagricultural sector and assess their implementation status,

- To assess the common agenda of different ministries engaged inagricultural activities and poverty reduction, and review theircoordination status at different levels,

- To assess the agriculture budget provision at the central level, districtlevel and VDC level in relation to the total available budget over a timeperiod,

- To assess the gaps on coordination and its effects among thestakeholders and identify the ways for enhancing coordination,

- To identify the status of food security in the country, across thedistricts and the project VDCs and analyse the causing factors of foodinsecurity,

- To analyse the import and export of agricultural commodities andreview the status of food deficit and food surplus,

- To assess the context of the right to food in the country, particularlyimpacting the vulnerable groups as envisaged by the governmentpolicies and guidelines,

To provide recommendations of the findings of the study to theconcerned stakeholders.

2.2. Methodology

The study was carried out in three tiers of the governance, i.e. the centrallevel, district level and the community level through gleaning of thesecondary information and conducting discussions with the responsible

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officers and the community groups. In order to collect information fromthe ministerial level, the policy and advocacy documents as well as theannual reports were reviewed and interactions were held with the focalpersons. The district-level information was collected through the reviewof the DDC plan, annual reports of the line agencies and holdinginteractions with the official chiefs and subject specialists of theconcerned units. Information from the VDC level was collected incoordination with the VDC Secretary, reviewing the VDC reports and thedata collected using specific formats. At the community level, there werefocus group discussions, interactions in the community meetings, reviewof the meeting minutes and impact observations of the project activitiesin the target communities.


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3. FINDINGS OF THE STUDY

3.1 Central Level

Review of national objectives, policies and guidelines of differentministries

The policies are the key components of the programmes and the projectsto ensure that the activities are on the right track for achieving thetargeted outputs and outcomes. The policies, which are supported by theguidelines, provide pathways for stepwise implementation of theactivities, with monitoring outlines and performance evaluation at thespecified time intervals. MOAD and the allied ministries have developedtheir policies and guidelines. The coordination among these agencies isvital because poverty reduction, social inclusion, participatorydevelopment, rational uses of natural resources with a cost effectiveapproach are their common agendas. In order to strengthen thecoordination, NPC is accountable for developing a national plan andMoFALD is accountable for coordinating the development activitiesthrough its representatives at the district and VDC levels. LSGA hasassigned key responsibilities to DDC and VDC for overall planning,implementation and monitoring of the development activities. Therefore,the ministerial policies and guidelines are reflected at the local level forintegrated planning and implementation of the activities as endorsed bythe VDC Council and the District Council. LSGA (1999) and correspondingRegulations (2000), envisage a functional coordination between the lineagencies from the settlement to the district level within the umbrella oflocal government. Accordingly, review of the key guidelines, approachesand people centred programmes of different ministries connected to thelocal development give high importance for integrated development ofthe country. Moreover, the thrust on affirmative actions and the deprivedpeople’s rights depicted by different ministries give high importance forpoverty alleviation and livelihood improvement of the marginalisedsection with a right based approach. This requires effective coordinationat the central level with a downward accountability to the localgovernance, ensuring coherence and harmony between the relevantagencies.

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3.1.1 Brief objectives, acts and policies of key ministries related tofood security issues

3.1.1.1 Ministry of Agricultural Development (MoAD):

The objectives of the ministries to:

- strengthen research and extension activities in agriculture andlivestock sector for promoting food security and nutrition in thecountry,

- establish rights of the farmers on the use and utilisation of ITK,

- prioritise agricultural bio-diversity based productions and marketingsystem,

- enable participation of at least 50% women in all the programmeactivities,

- contract farming arrangement of public, marginal and unutilised landto marginalised/land fewer people for the purpose of incomegeneration and livelihood promotion,

provide collateral free and subsidised interest loans to small farmersand women for animal husbandry, milk production, milk products andgoat milk products,

- prioritise ecotourism in the rural areas with a range of landmanagement and devolution of decision power to the localcommunities for setting income generating enterprises,

- establish a fodder bank in the high hills and Himalayan region forconservation and promotion of fodder for increasing the livestockpopulation,

- strengthen inclusive trade promotion prioritising the employment formarginalised peoples across the selected pockets,

- provide a focus on the right-based approach through foodsovereignty and food security programmes with an eco-basedfarming approach.


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Findings of the Study

Some Acts and national policies of MoAD supporting the agriculturaldevelopment

Coffee Policy (2004): The coffee policy encompasses the involvementof private sectors, cooperatives and NGOs for the production, processingand marketing of coffee, with an objective to substitute the import byexport and promote environmental conservation in the mid-hill areas ofNepal (MoAC, 2004). It envisioned a strong participation of thegovernment and private sectors for effective planning andimplementation of the activities. Simultaneously, it envisagedaccompanying the coffee processors and manufacturers with theinstallation of the machines and equipment. The policy encourages localhuman resources to be trained in the production, processing, laboratoryworks and manufacturing, thereby increasing the human-resourceemployment in the territories. Therefore, the policy attracts otherministries for leasehold and contract farming for marginalised and poorpeople in the rural areas, which is provisioned in the policy of MoFALD,MOFSC, MoWCSW and MOCPA. Specialised areas can be selected andimplemented with integrated support of the ministries.

National Agricultural Policy (NAP 2006): This policy aims to providestrong direction for the development of the agriculture sector in line withAPP and to specify major promotional areas of the agriculture sector. TheNAP's main projected area was to commercialise agriculturalcommodities based on comparative advantage of the ecology to harnessthe maximum benefits from the territory. The policy further envisions formaking the agricultural products more viable in terms of quality andquantity so as to make them competitive in the international markets.For the sustainability of the programme outputs, bio-diversity promotionand conservation of natural resources were taken into considerationwhile implementing the guidelines (MOAC, 2006). As the policy wasfocused on commercial agriculture, the uplands, marginal lands andprivate lands were targeted to produce higher-value crops among whichcoffee was prioritised in the mid-hill areas. This policy can be instrumentalfor several ministries.

Agricultural Biodiversity Policy (2007): The policy encompasses abroad agenda of protecting the environment by promoting agriculturalbio-diversity while intensifying the agricultural development activities. Ithas laid importance on the use and utilisation of ITK in the particularecological domains, which preserves the local knowledge and skills.


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Ultimately, it advocates for organic farming by avoiding the externalchemical inputs to promote local species and save the environment frombeing polluted. With this notion, the agricultural system needs to bestrengthened through balanced enterprise, which has a complementaryrelationship to each other that generates a synergy on productionthrough a limited parcel of land (MOAC, 2006). This policy was a muchbroader issue and concern of other ministries too. The field workersincorporated this in the normal extension practice.

Agribusiness Promotion Policy (ABP): The agribusiness policy wasformulated to boost the agribusiness in commercial scale in the selectedpockets of the country with the introduction of high-value crops. Capacitybuilding of the farmers on agribusiness, prioritising of the commodities,enhancing husbandry practices, channelising marketing system as wellas the processing of the commodities were laid as the key importance ofthe guidelines. As the commercial crops did not match the ecologicaldomains, the agriculture extension workers were made responsible toassess the potentialities. ABP put thrust on organic farming and good-quality product, which can bring credit in the international market.Although the policy is effective for big farmers, it cannot capture thefarmers in the mass scale and the farmers in the remote areas because oflack of adequate extension, support and the skills.

The Seed Act (1988): The Seed Act was enacted with the objective ofmaintaining the convenience and economic interest of the public byproviding the quality-standards seeds. The Act rightly prohibits selling,possessing, exchanging or providing the scheduled seed of which theclass or species cannot be identified and does not comply with theminimum requirements prescribed under the Act. The Act encouragesthe private entrepreneurs more than the small and marginal farmers. TheNepalese farmers have been practising farmer-to-farmer seedmanagement system for a long time, but this Act has not recognised sucha traditional system by virtue of which the poor and marginal farmers areon the verge of extinction of sustainable farming practices. This is a majorthreat for the local seed management system, and it will ultimatelychallenge the food security situation.

Food Act (1967): This Act mainly aims to maintain the proper standardof foodstuffs and to prevent any undesirable adulteration or prevent fromreducing in, or extracting, any natural quality or utility from foodstuffs in


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order to maintain health and convenience of the public. It strictlyprohibits the production, sale or distribution of the adulterated or sub-standard foodstuffs. A license is required to produce, sell, distribute, storeor process the prescribed foodstuffs. Similarly, the Act has also a provisionof punishment for the violation of the law. However, due to limited foodlaboratories and low staffing, there is a huge constraint for monitoringof the activities across the country.

National Technical Standard for Organic Agriculture System(NTSOAS 2008): The Government has introduced the guidelines forpromoting organic agriculture cultivation practices. The NTSOAS followsthe rules of organic agriculture such as the use of organic manures,compost, local bio-pesticides, thereby avoiding the use of pesticides inthe crop production process. Through the establishment of an organiccertification system, it envisages to fetch a higher price of the agriculturalcommodities from a unit area of land. It has also focused on high-valuecrops to fetch higher prices in the international markets.

ADS the Strategic Document of MOAD: As already stated, the ADS hastaken high ambition on production, productivity, export of commoditiesand import substitution by exports with a significant economic gain. Thefollowing are several comments made by the CSOs on ADS:

- It targets rich farmers for commercial production and ignores thesubsistence farmers who are the most important for mass productionof edible grain and food security. Food security should be the firstmandate in a country.

- It is basically oriented to private sector services, which increase theuse of external inputs that contradicts with organic farming,biodiversity and sustainable agriculture.

- Community-based organisations and cooperatives need to bestrengthened for input and marketing management instead of theprivate organisations.

- Policy advocacy, right to food for the marginalised farmers andagriculture devolution in the federal system needs to be explained.

- As agriculture should come under the purview of the leadership ofDDC, it should take LSGA into consideration to endorse the activitiesplanned by the District Council.


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3.1.1.2. Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation (MOFSC):

It has a number of policies and guidelines regarding Forest Conservation,use of Forest and Non-Timber Forest Products (2061), CommunityForestry, Forest Barren Land Utilisation (Procedures, 2063), Policy onLeasehold Forestry (2058), Income Generation, Soil Conservation andEnvironment Protection. The CFUG’s by laws, saving collections in thecommunity, income from CF and affirmative policy on allocation ofincome to marginalised people look very positive on poverty alleviationand food security for the poor people. However, these are largelycriticised by the CSOs for not being transparent in their implementation.In summary, it has the following objectives:

- Assure benefits to local people through use and utilisation of localresources, local knowledge and practices in the area of forestry andnatural resources.

- Give priorities to Dalit, marginalised and women for using the forestbased resources impacting their livelihood, increased employmentand enhancing technical and managerial capacity.

- Provide coordination and cooperation between the forestryprogrammes and the agricultural programmes for crop production,food security and soil conservation.

- Give priorities and provide investment of forest users’ group incomesinto forest management, enterprises to poor people, and communitydevelopment activities at the local level.

- Enhance private sector investment through the leasehold forest bypromoting the agro-forestry, production and collection of forestbased raw materials and eco-tourism.

- Ensure a provision of technology and financial resources foralternative energy, bio-gas, bio- briquettes, improved cooking stovepromoters and bio-fuel producing farmers.

3.1.1.3. Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (MoFALD)

- Developing policies of devolution in the context of inclusivedemocracy.

- Promoting Local Governance Act and local good governance and itsimplementation.


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- Playing an active role in the integrated development throughmobilisation of local bodies and allied agencies using a participatoryapproach.

- Providing infrastructural development at the local level, includingagricultural roads, marketing structures and other relevant structuresin the rural areas.

- Supporting marginalised sections such as indigenous, Dalit, Badi andthe Muslim communities.

- Providing international coordination and workshops on local/ruraldevelopment activities.

- Promoting socio-economic rights and opportunities of themarginalised people.

- Making local communities, NGOs, civil societies and private sectorresponsible for good governance and service delivery.

3.1.1.4. Ministry of Irrigation (MoI):

Irrigation Policy (2003) and Irrigation Development Vision (2006)emphasise on the utilisation of water resources through a participatorymanagement system with due priority to the multipurpose projects;increase the roles and responsibilities of local bodies; extension ofirrigation services even to marginal farms; introduction to new and non-conventional irrigation systems such as rainwater harvesting, ponds,sprinklers, drips, paddle pumps, etc.; development of storage typeirrigation systems; use of ground water; trams-basin water transfer;improvement in institutional capacity of water users, and strengtheningworking capability of technical human resources.

3.1.1.5. Ministry of Industry:

The main policies of the ministry are Industrial Policy 2067, ForeignInvestment Policy 2071, One Door Policy on Foreign Investment andMicro Enterprise Development/Implementation policies. The ministry hasoutstanding programme activities to boost industries, small-scaleenterprises and create/strengthen jobs for 50,000 people in the currentfiscal year. The policies of micro enterprise and small-scale cottageindustries are more focused on income generation of small farmers andhave encouraged the demand-driven approach (web site MEDEP).


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3.1.1.6. Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MoWCSW)and Ministry of Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation (MoCPA)

These ministries have also affirmative policies and guidelines on genderequality, enterprise development, poverty alleviation, and cooperativepromotion, right-based approach and employment. They have especiallytargeted the small holders in the rural areas for improving their livelihoodthrough saving funds, trainings, social mobilisation, institutionaldevelopment and coordination. The ministries have developed guidelinesand directives on their sectoral priorities (Annual reports 2071/72, MoCPAand 2071/72 MoWCSW).

Given the policies and guidelines, the inter-ministerial coordination hasa high scope to work in favour of food security of small farmers and themarginalised people as each ministry has elastic provisions of positivediscrimination. Particularly, the policies and strategies of MOAD arereflected in ADS, MOFSC in Forestry Master Plan, MoFALD in three-yearplan and in their respective strategic documents. These are expected tobe implemented at the local level with functional coordination by theirdistrict-level sections, but the coordination at the central level has notbeen found to be functional.

Based on the document review and personal interactions with the focalpersons, coordination at the central and regional level, the existingsituations of the coordinated works are found as follows (Regionalprogress reports, annual reports of the ministry, the response of ADO andfocal person of the ministries):

There is no separate division in the ministry for poverty alleviation,income generation and food security. In some ministries, the units andsub-units are responsible for these issues whereas some do not have suchspecialised units.

There are rare reflections and documentations of coordinated worksamong the ministries in the central level on food security, livelihood andintegrated development issues.

There is an issue-based workshop in the centre where people fromdifferent ministries participate. However, these are mostly one-waycommunication process, which are often not followed and reviewed ona periodic basis (focal person MoFSC).


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The line ministries have not taken initiatives in interdisciplinary reviewmeetings on achievements toward food security, nutrition and povertyalleviation across the departments, and progresses in the regions and thedistricts. The annual reports are submitted to the NPC by the lineministries for the year review and forth-coming year plan (focal personMoAD).

The discussions on regional issues of food security and livelihood are notgenerally held in the regions where there are adequate avenues of policyimplementation, review and coordination. The regional review meetingreports of agriculture, forestry and livestock normally have no reflectionof coordinated issues on food security and nutrition (review of regionalreports of NARC, DOA, and DLSO).

3.2 Review of reports on food security and nutrition

DoA stated that food security issue in Nepal is not a national problemrather it is a regional or local-level problem, which can be addressedthrough local planning (bi-annual magazine of agriculture, 2063) andimprovement of the crop cultivation system. Based on this, NASDPstressed on improving extension modalities to mitigate the challengesof food security in Nepal by enhancing the capacity of NGOs,cooperatives, CFUGs and other private sector institutions, making themcompetitive on extension services by training and orientation (NASDP,2010). Similarly, MSNP put preferences on effective extension throughthe development of strong advocacy materials on food security andnutrition, which facilitates for conducting a national-level debate,influencing to create a basket of resources and uniformity in extensionprogrammes (MSNP, 2013). The peasant association strained on thefarmers’ right to seed as a first prerequisite of food security and a majorfactor for food sovereignty based planning in an ecological domain. Theassociation drew attention that the farming communities may extinct inall respects if the government does not protect the right to seedconservation. Otherwise, the farmers will modify the technologies andmake adaptations in the case of climate change and adverse farmingsituation, which is impossible from the outsiders (ANPFa and PANAP,2010).

NARC stressed on technological advancement with social mobilisation,which must go simultaneously for increasing production and poverty


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alleviation (NARC, 2005). It further puts preferences on the collectivefarming system as a best option of food security to the marginalisedfarmers through which the landless people can be grouped in a particularproduction site with required inputs and technological package forenhancing the production and promoting food security (NARC, 2011). RDof WDR report revealed that motivating youth towards food and nutritionsecurity through conservation, promotion and utilisation of indigenouscrops is a sustainable solution among the communities (WDR, DAO,2070/71). The DADO of Ramechhap district expressed his favour forcommercialisation of agriculture through the subsistence based farmingsystem with assessing the comparative advantage of locality. (DADO,Ramechhap, 2070). Instead, ADS stressed on commercial farming throughwhich small commercial farmers can contribute to the landless and verysmall farmers through employment effects.

The subsistence farmers need a special extension package not the othercategories (ADS, 2015). USAID remarked differently that the food security-related components are scattered to different ministries, i.e. irrigation,agricultural credit, agricultural inputs, timbers, non-timber forestproducts and so on posing difficulties on integrated services. Thesupporting donors are also scattered providing services independentlyin different districts. Hence, the coordination is very difficult for integratedservices (MEAS, ILLINOIS and USAID, 2012). ESCR report of Nepal hasrevealed that the right to the food system is highly affected by the non-implementation of land reform, poor food distribution and absence offunctional coordination between the central, regional and local level. Asagriculture is oriented on commercialisation, the vulnerable people areignored during the food distribution (ESCR report, 2013).

The review shows that there are multiple factors affecting the foodsecurity in Nepal, which needs an integrated plan and policy for inputsupply, service delivery and robust extension system with dueconsideration to the right based approach of the farmer. ADS should takethese initiatives with strong coordination of public and private partnerswhile implementing the programme activities.

3.3 Scope of the central team for food security programmes

The higher-level team from the ministries and departments can influencethe lower level governing institutions for improving the participatoryplanning, monitoring and overall development system as follows:


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- There are rare critical reviews and reflections about the plans andprogrammes in the DDC Council regarding food security,employment and income generation. The highest proportion ofinternal revenue generated by DDC is budgeted for infrastructures.This can be positively changed if the central level authorities holdinteractions with the DDC officials and political leaders in the districts.

- NGOs and CSOs with considerable expertise and experiences in thefield of social mobilisation, rural development and food security issuesare reported to be ignored in the national planning system. Thecentral level authorities can mainstream and be legally obliged tothem in planning, monitoring and implementation of theprogrammes and projects.

- Political influence on project prioritisation and by escaping LSGA bypolitical forces and local-level authorities can be checked through thecentral level monitoring.

- Joint assessment and monitoring of the high-level expertise in theregion and the district can identify new avenues for development.The experts from multidisciplinary sectors can explore the totalpotentials of an ecological domain, which can be used at national-level planning at the ministry and NPC.

- NPC usually endorses big projects in the Red Book whereas the DDCoffices are reluctant to allocate small grants to the small producers.Coordination among the ministries and departments can improve thesituation by creating a basket fund for small farmers, landless people,and women for poverty alleviation.

3.4 Gaps at the central level

Despite a huge scope and capacities of the ministries to influence andcoordinate for enhancing food security, promoting income generatingenterprises and employment generation, some gaps are observed amongand between the ministries and departments as follows.

3.4.1 Policy review gets less importance:

Polices of different ministries are of interdisciplinary types that keep acomplementary and supplementary relationship between each other. Inpolicy documents, the importance of coordination with the stakeholders


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is commonly stated and emphasised. However, it has got a low priorityin the implementation process. There have been rare meetings for policyreview and identifying the common issues among and between theministries. This type of statement is not reflected in the annual reports(Annual reports of MOAD, MOFALD, and MOFSC 2013/14).

3.4.2 Need for coordinated efforts

Coordination between the central level ministries, joint protocols ofresearch and joint monitoring of the districts seems to have a gap at thecentral level. Such initiatives are not documented in the annual reportsof the ministries. The issues such as integrated development,environmental protection, inclusion, good governance, etc. cannot beachieved and sustained with a single disciplinary action. Some key planslike national employment for youths, national food security, specificschemes to landless people, range land management, migration controlin the rural areas through integrated development efforts seem possibleto carry out in a coordinated way by consolidating the allocated funds.Hence, lacking of such initiatives has minimised the scope of cross-disciplinary activities with joint efforts, which could reduce the cost ofimplementation, maximise the use of human expertise and impact onresource mobilisation, food security and income generation (AnnualReports, MoAD, MoFALD, and MoFSC 2013/14).

3.4.3 Farmers’ voices are not heard

Farmers’ voices are extremely important, but most difficult to collect andsynthesise because there are no proper channels to reach the mass andthe marginalised sections of the societies. Farmers are the primestakeholders to raise the issues in agricultural development, and they arethe prime right holders. However, the voices heard are not the version ofthese farmers as these are reflected by the field extension workers withtheir own channels or of the political leaders at the District Councilmeetings or at the national parliament. The first approach is restrictedwithin the access of technical and financial provision of the MOAD and,the second is more influenced by the political agenda. The farmers’associations, which claim as advocates of the right-based approach arealso criticised for not being effective to reach the grassroots level and tothe marginalised community (workshop on Right to Food at the districtlevel).


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3.4.4 Food security gets less priority

Food security encompasses farm products, forest products and non-farmactivities, which are meant to produce food and generate incomes. Thelandless people and small farmers are dependent on non-farm incomes,which have limited opportunities in the rural areas. As stated above, theministries have policies to allocate land or employment provisions to suchcategories of people. However, they are not implemented yet.Consequently, there is a high rate of migration from the rural to the urbanareas as the percentage of population in the hills is in descending order,viz; 63.6% in 1961 and 43.1% in 2011 and in increasing order in Terai, viz;36.4% to 50.2% in the same period (MOAD, 2015). In order to ensure foodsecurity in the country, it is not essential to produce agronomic crops ineach ecological region. Instead, there is a need to produce other cropsconsidering their comparative advantage that could fetch a better pricein the national and international markets. WTO (2002) stated that foodsecurity in these days lies not only in the local production of food, butalso a country’s ability to finance imports of foods through export of othergoods. La Via Campesina, the international movement of peasants,considers the food sovereignty a backbone of food security, which canbe sustainable if produced necessary food in the respective ecologicaldomains by utilising the indigenous knowledge and skills of the farmers,and respecting the cultural values and bio-diversity of the territory.However, no comprehensive plans are developed and implemented inthis respect. The DDC periodic plan and district annual plan of DADO,DLSO, and DFO have not sketched such opportunities (DDC periodicplans and annual plans of different districts). The increased fallow landand migration from the rural areas indicate negative impacts on the ruraleconomy. The pictures below from Doti district depict a state of the fallowland and potential crop replication if the land is allocated to the needypeople.


Increasing fallow land - which was under cultivation ten years ago in Doti

Bethe (Chenopodium album) and millet (Glycin max) grown as mixed cropfor food security in nearby fallow land”

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3.4.5 Low budget allocation for agricultural development

The national budget allocation for agricultural development isconsiderably lower as compared to the AGDP contribution over the years.AGDP contributes more than 32% in the national economy. However, thebudget allocation has accounted between 2.4- 4.14 % in 2013/14 andagain dropped to 3.7% in 2014/15. The AGDP growth ranges between1.86% and 3.67 % in a period of five years (2008/09-2013/14) with anaverage rate of 2.76% per annum. The low budgetary provision inagriculture has negative effects on fertilizer supply, extension supportand subsidies in the agricultural enterprises, which have impeded thetargeted growth in different sectors of agriculture (MoAD, 2014). A USAIDsupported symposium on food security and nutrition (Proceeding,NCSRP, 2012) concluded that poor allocation of investment in agriculturalresearch and extension has contributed to the low food production,especially for small farmers; selling their produce in the beginning andagain buying food for meeting the food requirements. The figure in thenational budget for agriculture and AGDP growth over the years ispresented in the graph below.

Figure 2: Percentage of agricultural budget and AGDP growth over the years

Source: MOAD progress reports and NPC documents from 2008/2009 –2014/15

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3.4.6 Low budget for agriculture research:

On the one hand, figure 2 indicates that a very low budget is allocated inagricultural development, and on the other hand, the budget allocatedfor research in agriculture is almost half of the development extensionbudget (below 2% of the national budget). The figures of five year’sobservations (chart below) show a decreasing trend of budget allocationin the research from 9.94 % of the total agricultural budget in 2010/11 to7.63% in 2014/15. In many workshops and annual meetings, theresearchers from NARC have raised their voices for allocating sufficientbudget for agricultural research. However, the same trend of budgetallocation continues. The researchers have demanded qualified staffs,vehicles and communication/ documentation for research support in theoutreach sites (NARC, 2005) for strengthening outreach research andresearch/extension linkage in the rural areas.

Figure 3: % Share in research and extension of total agriculture budget

Source: MOAD Progress Report (2008/2009 -2014/15)

3.4.7 Priority to commercial enterprises

ADS has mostly focused on the commercial agriculture and the activitiesare obviously tending to the pocket areas with high external inputs. Thepocket areas of commercial vegetable and livestock farms are mostly

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located in the periphery of the district headquarters, across the highwayand in the vicinity of rural roads. The mass farmers growing multiple cropson their farms live in the rural hinterlands, which contribute to differenttypes of crop produces for food security and nutrition. The policies onagriculture have not outlined a proportional thrust to these farmers.Commercial agriculture has considered the main business for exportsubstitution and marketable commodities to fulfil the demand of thelocal markets. The projected export in ADS will be 2,000 million USD in2035 AD from the existing export value of 248 million USD and tradesurplus 690 million USD from the current trade deficit of 350 million USD(ADS, 2015), which demands huge commercialisation of agriculturalcommodities and high investment on infrastructures.

3.4.8Extinction of indigenous cultivars and animal breeds

The adaptable local cultivars and animal breeds are reported to be on theverge of extinction over the years. Among the crops, pulse had a very bigshare in food security and nutrition for a long time. Interestingly, thelegumes and pulses were the part of the food system. With the increasinguse of hybrid varieties, the intercropping and mixed cropping system fallin low priority, which gradually has dismantled the area under pulses andlegumes. The numbers of cultivars of cereals and vegetables suitable inthe local climatic niches are replaced, and this has reduced the balancedfarming system, particularly among the small farmers. The hybrid seedsimposed by seed companies and agro-vets, particularly to big land-owners have troubled the small holders with the insecurity of production(experiences of paddy and maize varieties). The depleting local animalbreeds have nutrition effect to small holders who were the source of year-round nutrition and can be raised by the open gracentre system. Bannedon community forest and public land for animal grazing (DLSO Doti,Acham and Daledhura) and scarce human resource for husbandrypractices largely reduced the population of local breeds, therebyreduction in the amount of FYM production at HH level. Two indigenouspractices that have much importance to subsistence farmers for asustainable agriculture are presented below.


Legumes and cereals with forestry, the indigenous practice are losing aftermono cropping of commercial vegetables.

Achami cow, easy for rearing, is gradually disappearing

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3.4.9 Reduction on subsidy and supplies of inputs

According to ANPFa, there is a reduction in the subsidy and supplies ofproduction inputs in the rural areas, which has impeded the croppingsystem through increased cost of production. The small farmers from theremote areas are compelled to visit the district headquarters to buy thesmallest amount of fertilizers and seeds. The private dealers havesuppressed the small farmers in quality and quantity of the inputs withhigh-price rate. Privatisation of input supply has dismantled theproductivity, causing an effect on the total production of the country.

3.4.10 Increasing production and increasing food deficit

There is an increasing deficit of food despite the increase in productionover the years. In the hills, the population is gradually decreasing, andthe production is increasing. However, the food deficit is still observed.The chart below shows an uninterrupted increase in cereal yield from1964/65 - 2013/14, but 30 districts are still considered food deficit districtsin the year 2013/14. The agricultural experts in many workshops andgatherings keep emphasising understanding of food deficit as a ricedeficit. Nonetheless, there is no authentic information about selling ofother cereals from the rural areas while a large number of rice sacks arepurchased from the market.

Figure 4: Principal agricultural production 000' MT. over the years

Source: MOAD, 2013/14

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Chapter Heading


3.4.11 Gap between research and extension:

Strong coordination between research and extension in agriculture is themajor thrust for advancement of technologies in the famers’ field. Thenewly developed technologies disseminated in the farming communitiestake several years for verifying their yield performance, suitability in agiven farming system and social adaptation. In the past, many varietiesof cereals and vegetables were adopted for long years in thecommunities with high performance, but later these were replaced byother varieties (Adhikari, 1996). All these are based on the liking anddisliking of varietal characters judged by the farmers. Therefore, thepresence of research workers and extension workers in a constant touchwith the community is a prerequisite to strengthen the research andextension (NARC Annual Reports, NARC proceedings, 2012, 2014). Basedon the feedback and coordination, NARC and its research stationsdevelop new varieties and practice suitable varieties for differentecological domains and recommend to the department fordissemination. However, there is a large yield gap between the researchplots and the farmers’ production plots indicating the greater potentialof increasing food production. For example, the improved rice varietyyield about 5 MT/ha in research plot, but it is almost half in farmers’ plot.Among the many factors responsible for this, the management is crucial.At the same time, setting up of a research priority by NARC is not able toproperly address the real and felt problems of the farmers.

NARC and Department of Agriculture have special critiques betweeneach other over the coordination issues. However, there exists regularED-DG meetings at two-month intervals at the central level. Besides this,there are also mechanisms of fortnightly coordination meetings at theregional level, which is called NATWG. The ED of NARC observed big gapsbetween the two offices (NARC annual report, 2015), which is the mainhurdle for technology extension. The participants in the NATWGworkshop (2012) focused a need on pluralistic research. However, thedecreasing manpower in NARC, and DoA procure the demonstration kitsfrom outside the NARC station, has created research-extension gapsacross the country. Dr. Yubak Dhoj G.C, Director General of DoA stressedon the needs of sufficient manpower in agricultural extension and jointmonitoring of research and extension team (NARC Proceeding, 2015). Hestressed on the needs for the increasing number of functionalcollaborative outreach at off-station instead of the on-station researches.


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This allows to the greater extent of adoption in a short span of timewithout any financial burden. Similarly, the research outputs so fargenerated in the research plots should be scaled out in the farmingcommunities. The extension workshops produced several comments andsuggestions for NARC because it was not able to capture the essentialissues in research in the particular sites, loose eco-based research andpoor coordination with an extension for a research extension continuum(Annual Review Meetings, 2012, 2013, 2014). Despite these, the limitedresearch stations and extension workers in the remote areas are fairlyinsufficient for the flow of technologies to the farmers and feedback tothe research/extension offices. The research and extension should be onthe equal horizon for the successful generation and dissemination oftechnologies (as illustrated in the diagram below). Common platform fortechnology generation and verification has yet to be establishedproperly.

Both the institutions need an adequate number of trained staffs. This ismore apparent in the NARC system because of the flaws in the NARC bi-laws, coupled with the issue of the employees’ pension system. Theincreased flow of the staff resignation indicates the brain drain of thetrained manpower. The DoA also suffers from the poor agriculturalextension coverage because of the shortage of the human resources.

Figure 5: Research extension coordination for technologyverification and dissemination


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Trails and verification of technologies

Research stations Extension agencies

Collection of field problems

Outreach SitesRecommendation

for use


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3.4.12 Inadequate extension efforts in the remote hinterlands

The agriculture services in the rural areas are reported as poorly deliveredbecause of the limited staff and scattered settlements. According toDADOs, the proportion of the service recipients’ household to a singleextension worker falls around 2000-3000, which is impossible to addresswithin the required time period. Moreover, the flow of the extensionactivities through very limited-service centres and inaccessible to thefarmers in the rural areas is extremely difficult (NARC vision for 20 years).

Most of the DADO office activities are obstructed without an adequatenumber of vehicles for transportation. According to DoA, more than 50offices (DADO, farms, quarantine offices, plant protection laboratories,seed and soil testing laboratories) still lack comfortable means oftransportation. Although the junior as well as the medium-leveltechnicians are the frontline staffs, the ministry has not been able toenhance their motivation. No office and residential setups have beenmade yet in most of the districts. The primary means of mobility is abicycle in some areas, but the major mode of mobility is walking on foot.This has severely limited the extended coverage. Notably, one technicianneeds to cover more than 15 VDCs that considerably limits the extensionof the coverage. Similarly, a single technician is subject to cover morethan 1500 households.

The present system of allocating ASCs in each district is very unscientificwhile considering the cultivation areas and the number of households.Consequently, Morang and Manang districts, which have a greatervariation in the population and cultivation areas, have the same numberof ASCs. The blanket system of allocating four ASCs in the terai and highhill areas and six ASCs in the mid-hill should be critically reviewed andaddressed through Organisation and Management (O & M). Theseaspects are responsible for the food security directly and indirectly.

3.4.13 Large number of food deficit districts

According to the statistics of MOAD, there were still 30 food deficitdistricts in Nepal with a record of 825,512 MT. food deficits last year.Among them, five districts belong to the eastern Terai, one in the innerTerai, two in the western hill and rest in the mid-western and the farwestern hills (Annex 1.&2). The rest of the 45 districts had 1615403 MT.food surplus in the same year.


The following table shows that there is a total of 789,891 MT. food surplusin the country, which should either be exported or used for the otherpurposes. However, there is no evidence how the surplus food is beingused. Therefore, the data on the food surplus is controversial becauseNepal imports huge amount of cereals from India and other countries.The cereals, then are heavily supplied to the food surplus district.Consequently, this is a matter of concern about the use of surplus foodwithin and across the district.

Table 1: Summary of food surplus and food deficit in 2013/14

Description Number ofDistricts

FoodBalance/Deficit

Remarks

Food SurplusDistricts

45 1,615,404 Mt. 30 hills and the restTerai and inner Terai (15)districts

Food DeficitDistricts

30 -825,512 Mt. 5 Terai, one inner Teraiand the rest of the 24,from hills and mountaindistricts

Total 75 789,891 Mt.

35



Dis

tric

tsFo

od D

efic

itM

t.D

istr

icts

Food

Def

icit

Mt.

Dis

tric

tsFo

od D

efic

itM

t.Re

mar

ks

Dha

nkut

a-3

20M

akaw

anpu

r-7

31Ka

likot

-144

86M

axim

umde

ficit

foun

d in

KTM

follo

wed

by L

alitp

ur,

Chitw

an,

Raut

ahat

Sira

ha,

Sapt

ari

and

Bhak

tapu

rdi

stric

ts. T

hele

ast d

efic

it is

foun

d in

Man

ag,

Mus

tang

,D

hank

uta,

Mak

awan

pur

and

Rasu

wa.

Uda

ypur

-580

4M

ohat

tari

-414

12Ro

lpa

-223

2

Sapt

ari

-396

59Sa

rlahi

-224

16Py

utha

n-6

559

Sira

ha-4

6192

Raut

ahat

-466

85Ja

jark

ot-1

2743

Dol

akha

-162

62Ch

itwan

-553

32Ba

jura

-157

75

Rasu

wa

-958

Man

ang

-143

Bajh

ang

-366

6

Kavr

e-7

429

Mus

tang

-298

Dar

chul

a-5

848

Bhak

tapu

r-3

6591

Dol

pa-2

608

Achh

am-8

240

Lalit

pur

-606

99H

umla

-847

0Ba

itadi

-607

7

Kath

man

du-3

5176

9Ju

mla

-487

8D

adel

dhur

a-1

230

Tota

l def

icit

(30

dist

ricts

)- -8

2551

2 M

t.

Tabl

e 2:

Foo

d de

ficit

dis

tric

t and

cor

resp

ondi

ng fo

od d

efic

it a

mou

nt (M

t.) in

201

3/14

Sour

ce: S

tatis

tical

Info

rmat

ion

on N

epal

ese

Agric

ultu

re, 2

013/

14

36



37


The Farmers’ Associations and RtFN have critiques on a food deficit issueas follows:

- The government has always delayed to fix the minimum price ofpaddy so that the farmers cannot wait for a long time to sell theirproduct. The products are sold to the Indian collectors.

- The price of paddy fixed by the government is lesser than the marketprice.

- The information on food surplus and food deficit across the districtsand the regions is not correctly maintained and updated.

- The food deficit in the western hill districts is the result of lack ofproper planning and lack of provisions of inputs to the farmers.

- The food deficit in the Terai districts and inner Terai can be resolvedthrough increased irrigation and input supplies in time. A small effortcan increase tremendous food production in these areas.

3.4.14 Import exceeds export

The agricultural products worth Rs.12,750 million were imported fromdifferent countries in the year 2013/14. On the contrary, the export in theyear accounted only Rs. 26503 million. Hence, the total value of importthis year is almost five fold greater than the export. The trade deficit isapparent in the components of cereals, animals, vegetables and fruits.Coffee, tea and spices are only the export category exceeding the importvalue. The summaries of the imports/exports are presented in the tablebelow, and the details are provided in Annex 3.


Tabl

e 3:

Sum

mar

ised

tabl

e of

impo

rt a

nd e

xpor

t of a

gric

ultu

ral c

omm

odit

ies

in 2

013/

2014

Com

mod

itie

s/Pr

oduc

tsIm

port

s Val

ue R

s. in

mill

ions

Expo

rts V

alue

Rs.

inm

illio

nsD

iffer

ence

s in

Rs

. in

Mill

ion

Cere

als

28,6

15.5

19.5

6-2

8,59

5.94

Edib

le v

eget

able

s, fr

uits

and

nut

s 25

315.

363

66.2

1-1

8948

.79

Ani

mal

or v

eget

able

fats

and

oils

23,0

11.1

243.

11-2

2,76

7.99

Oil

seed

s &

ole

agin

ous

frui

ts8,

867.

316

24.0

9-7

,243

.21

Resi

dues

& w

aste

by

food

indu

strie

s8,

421.

715

05.0

4-6

,916

.66

Beve

rage

s, co

coa

and

toba

cco

6600

.419

91.3

4-4

609.

06

Mis

cella

neou

s ed

ible

pre

para

tion

5,38

7.5

111.

34-5

,276

.16

Coffe

e &

tea

mat

e&

spi

ces

5,20

5.8

6985

.99

1,78

0.19

Prep

. of c

erea

l, m

ilk, v

eg, f

ruits

, fis

h et

c.51

37.1

5513

.06

375.

96

Live

ani

mal

s, bi

rds,

eggs

, hon

ey, f

ish

4977

.838

2.12

-459

5.68

Suga

r & s

ugar

con

fect

iona

ry3,

773.

810

0.58

-3,6

73.2

2

Oth

ers/

mis

cella

neou

s to

tal

2192

.40

1660

.86

-531

.54

Gra

nd to

tal

127,

505

2650

3-1

01,0

02

38



39


In total, the commodities are grouped in 24 items (Annex 3) among whichthe cereals alone accounted for 22% of the total imports, followed byanimal/vegetable fat and oil 18%, edible vegetable 10.30%, edible fruitsand nuts 9.55% and oil seeds and oleaginous fruits 6.95 % (Annex 2). Theothers sharing higher values in the export accounted as industrial wasteand residue 6.60%, coffee, tea, mate and spices 4.08%, preparations forcereals, flour, starch or milk 3.16% and, sugar and confectionery 2.95%.


40


3.5 District Level Observations

3.5.1 Budget allocation skewed to infrastructure

The allocation of national budget to agriculture is neither sufficient forthe research nor to the extension counterparts. It never reached beyond4% of the national budget, which cannot cope with the researchableissues. As a consequence to the insufficient funds, the field staffs aredevoid with the lack of infrastructures (DADO offices and ASCs-Agricultural Service Centre). The district-level information from threedistricts revealed a poor budget allocation in agriculture and healthsector compared to the infrastructure in 2071/72. For example, in Banke,the total budget allocated by DDC for infrastructure, health andagriculture was Rs. 1,179,873 out of which 55% was sanctioned forinfrastructure, 29% for health and 16% for agriculture. The case was moreevident in Surkhet where the total budget allocated for three sectors wasRs. 1,343,201 with a distribution of 80% in infrastructure, 15% inagriculture and only 5% for health. Dalilekh experienced the similar caseto Surkhet where the figures for three sectors were found 75%, 19% and6% for infrastructure, agriculture and health respectively. The per capitaexpenditure of the DDC fund for infrastructure was obviously higher thanthe funds for another two, which observed a highest amount of Rs.3081in the infrastructure sector in Banke and a lowest figure of Rs. 180 inDailekh followed by Rs. 183 in Dailekh district.


Tabl

e 4:

Dis

tric

t lev

el b

udge

t allo

cati

ons

and

expe

ndit

ures

(207

1-20

72)

Dis

tric

tBu

dget

Are

aBu

dget

(N

Rs, 0

00)

Per C

apit

aEx

pend

itur

e (N

Rs)

Rem

arks

Bank

eAg

ricul

ture

1890

0038

4.68

16%

Hea

lth34

0349

692.

7329

%

Infr

astr

uctu

re65

0524

1324

.05

55%

Surk

het

Agric

ultu

re19

7943

564.

2515

%

Hea

lth64

145

182.

855%

Infr

astr

uctu

re10

8111

330

81.8

180

%

Dai

lekh

Agric

ultu

re13

7890

526.

7619

%

Hea

lth47

136

180.

066%

Infr

astr

uctu

re55

2216

2109

.54

75%

41



3.5.2 DDC Council decisions not in favour of livelihood

The DDC Council decisions are skewed to the infrastructuraldevelopment. Therefore, the inclusive development approach with apreference to the socio-economic development of the targeted peopleand the communities has got a very little priority. There are very fewdecisions in the DDC annual development plan about the internalrevenue allocation for enhancing the deprived communities, foodsecurity and other conservation related activities.

3.5.3 Weak bottom up planning process

In the absence of the elected body at the local level coupled with verylow participation of the right holders at different steps, the planningprocess from the settlement to the district level is weak. The Ilaka levelplanning is weaker owing to the lack of Ilaka level chairperson andcoordination of the political party leaders. The Ward level leaders arefacilitating the farmers; the VDC Council meeting decisions are notpublicised and public hearing is less common for over the years. The poorpeople do not have the avenues to put their grievances due to theabsence of the immediate governance body at the community-level.Therefore, the community level demands are rarely reflected in the DDCCouncil.

3.5.4 Lack of effective coordination

The lack of effective coordination among the development agenciesresulted in the lack of integrated planing in the district. The DDC annualplan is limited to compilation of programmemes and budgets of differentline agencies, but spatial plans for interdisciplinary programmemeimplementation are rarely developed. An example of organic gingerproduction and processing, demanding a number of organisationinvolvements is illustrated below. There are rare integrated planning inthe district in the planning phases, which are cooperated later whensome projects initiate the process.


42


Figure 6: Need of multi-stakeholders’ involvement in gingerproduction and processing

3.5.5 Difficulty in implementing the periodic plan

More than 45 districts prepared a five-year periodic plan using a log-frame approach, but the majority of these districts are not found to beinstrumental (DLGSP review meeting, 2007). The plans were supposed tobe implemented in full scale using a log-frame on the subsequent DDCannual plan.

3.5.6 Difficult to host a joint monitoring system

It has become difficult for the district line agencies to conduct a jointmonitoring because each office has its own schedule. Monitoring of thecrosscutting issues such as poverty, gender-based violence, genderparticipation in development, benefit sharing with the target groups andcommunities have not taken place for many years.


43

Organic Ginger

Production and

Processing

HusbandryPractice(DADO)

ManureProduction

(DLSO)

Road/Market,Collection

Centre (DDC)

LeasingLand/ Lease

Forestry (DFO)

Mobilisationof Women

(WDO)

Saving &Credit

(Cooperatives)

Processing(Industry/

FNCCI)

LandImprovement &Legal Provision(Land Reform

Office)


3.6 VDC Level Observations

3.6.1 Budget allocation trends

The study of 9 VDCs for this purpose reveals that the trend of VDC budgetallocation to agriculture varies across the districts, i.e. 3-5% in Surkhet,4.42% in Banke and 11-15% in Chisapani and other VDCs. The budget inDailekh was a little higher in Kharigaira, i.e. 19.22% and significantlyhigher in Badakhola VDC, i.e. 33.88%. It was found that the budgetallocation largely depends on the ability to influence the VDC Secretaryand the political leaders. There was either no budget or very little budgetallocated in favour of the marginalised communities andagriculture/forest enterprise promotion.

Table 5: Budget allocation to agriculture across the VDCsin three districts

District VDC TotalBudget

Rs.

Agri.Budget

Rs.

Agri.budget

%

Grading

Surkhet Latikoili 7932250 277387 3.5

Jarbuta 9469165 446430 4.71

Uttarganga 17862769 916781 5.13 VI

Dailekh Badakhola 2135700 723500 33.88 I

Kharigaira 5226750 1004347 19.22 II

Banke Belhari 5508537 604530 10.97 V

Chisapani 5585979 247065 4.42

Naubasta 8017072 1168951 14.58 IV

Mahadevpuri 8084382 1212140 14.99 III

44



45


Influenced by certain elites, the VDC budget allocation is highly inclinedto the infrastructure development, largely ignoring the socio-economicdevelopment of the deprived people. The VDC Secretary rarely followsthe Grant Operation Guidelines (2010/11) and Resource MobilisationGuidelines (2012/13) which were developed for rationalising the budgetin different sectors and different ethnic/economic groups on an equitybasis.

3.6.2 Effects on governance due to absence of the elected body

The absence of the local body has disrupted the good governance,resulting in po or participation of the people in planning, implementationand monitoring of the development activities. The VDC Secretary hasbeen assigned the responsibilities for more than one VDC. Therefore, thebeneficiaries hardly access the Secretary as and when necessary. Thesectoral committees are not functional except in the planning stage andparticipatory monitoring of projects is shrinking. The national socialpolicies on health, education, social security (Annex 4) normally are notreviewed in the district, which has severely limited the appropriateplanning.

3.6.3 Difficulty in implementing the land utilisation policy

Considering the increasing trends of keeping the fallow lands in the ruralareas and migratory trend to the urban centres, there is an immediateneed of implementing land utilisation policy. The fallowed land can beutilised through the contract farming to the landless people withsubsidised inputs and required technology provisions. Moreover, thereis an acute shortage of technical experts, who could motivate, createawareness and guide on agricultural technologies, particularly to thesmall farmers and the marginalised people. The farmers may not bemotivated to cultivate the barren land unless the governmentimplements the land use policy according to ADS.

3.6.4 Non-proliferation of internal revenue

The areas of internal revenues in the VDC are too narrow, therebyreducing the potentialities of revenue collection, which is a source formatching funds to external supports and administrative/technicalassistance in the VDC. The VDC Secretary has limited capacity to influencethe political leaders for broadening the areas of internal revenue.


46


3.6.5 Need for conservation of native species

The high-value indigenous crops, cropping practices and local breeds oflivestock are on the verge of extinction due to the overwhelmingencroachment of the improved breeds and hybrids. These issues are nottaken into consideration in the VDCs. Some farmers have saved thesespecies individually, but the commercial farmers are gradually loosingthese crops. There is an increasing importance of native species with theeffects of climate change being their high adaptability in the adversesituations.


47

4. RECOMMENDATIONS - The budget for agriculture should be increased proportionately to

AGDP (at least 30% of the national budget) for enhancing multi-sectoral growth of agriculture, forestry and livestock, in order toenhance agricultural production and assist on the import substitutionand export promotion as envisaged by ADS.

- There should be an appropriate assessment of food balance and fooddeficit across the region with a database in the VDC and district levelas a backup for incessant calculation on the annual basis.

- A strong coordination is mandatory among the ministries such asAgriculture, Education, Irrigation, Power and Transportation, etc.Similarly, Departmental and District level coordination is crucial fordeveloping a food security plan across the ecological domains. Thecentral level initiatives are necessary for scientific planning for thetotal potentials and service delivery schemes for each ecologicaldomain.

- Special productive schemes for small farmers and employmentschemes to landless people based on local resources build a pathwayfor sustainable livelihood. This needs spatial planning with a localresource database led by expert teams from different ministries anddepartments.

- Using the past experiences, high level experts can developrevitalisation schemes in the mountain region and high hills wherethere was food sufficiency and even food surplus in the last decades.

- Agriculture has to be geared up based on science, commercialisation,mechanisation, diversification and industrialisation so that a realtransformation of subsistence-based farming into commercial wouldbe possible.

- Nepal can use hybrid to increase the Seed Replacement Rate (SRR).This would contribute to crop productivity because it is difficult toincrease the cultivated. It cannot be achieved by stretching the land.

- Agriculture has to be linked with the industry and the market to makeit rewarding to the producers.


48


- Commercialisation of fruits, NTFP, livestock and other enterprises inthe case of small farmers essentially demand gestation period survivalschemes for the entrepreneurs. Hence, the enterprise combinationbetween different disciplines, need policy supports on planning andimplementation.

- Linkages and coordination among research-education and extensioncounterparts have to be enhanced by developing and enacting formalbodies. Research based extension and education-based research andextension are prime necessities. Therefore, the line agencies of theAgricultural Development Ministry and Education Institutions such asTU and AFU should fall within the role of a single ministry.

- The regional directorate offices of agriculture, livestock, forestry,irrigation, etc. can play influential roles in integrated regional planningthrough the supports of their district offices. The leadership ofregional authorities can initiate a robust regional plan for foodsecurity.

- Saving and credit cooperatives need to be encouraged towardsmultipurpose cooperatives with a provision of a fund for reducing theinterest rate by the central banks that support the agriculturalenterprise promotion by small farmers and landless people. This isonly possible with the central policy and implementation proceduresthrough mainstreaming of sectoral cooperatives to provide poorfriendly services.

- LSGA and its regulations are said to be violated in many districts, asthe local government is absent for many years. Monitoring by thehigher level agencies may help revitalise the system as the districtbased agencies and political leaders become responsive to the higherlevel teams.

- There is a need of assessment over the periodic plans and masterplans in the districts, which were developed using big financial andhuman resources. These are criticised as non-functioning or partiallyfunctioning at the implementation level. An assessment of thesestrategies and revitalisation can be done from the central levelinitiatives.

- Input supply, product collection and marketing of goods can be donethrough cooperatives at the community level. However, there should


49

Recommendation

be an integrated plan of different sectoral cooperatives in a territory,which reduces operational cost and provides integrated services tocommunities. This can be facilitated by the district level agencies witha one-door support system.

- The subsidy should not be scattered rather it has to launch on thepocket programmeme basis. Agricultural insurance with goodgovernances are other factors that can gear up the production.

- Ensuring proper irrigation with surface and sub-surface and otherlatest development technologies are most crucial for increasingproduction.

- Nepal can earn money by launching organic agricultural products ofthe specific crops and areas based on the potentiality.

- MoFALD has allocated 15 % budget for agriculture in each VDC.However, the VDCs have not disbursed the budget to the agriculturalproduction. Misuse or unjust use of such funds should be controlledso that agricultural inputs can be used to increase production.

- A pro-poor friendly technology package with an insurance supportscheme needs to be developed and implemented to promote thelivelihood of the marginalised people. The distantly located ruralhinterlands should be supported for collective farming, productcollection and marketing to boost the local economy.

- The DDC and VDC budget should have distinct allocations foragricultural development and to the poor, marginalised and womenas per the guidelines. There should be mechanisms to monitor theallocated budget in participation with CSOs and the right to foodnetwork in the district.

- The right based organisations, particularly right to food networks atdifferent governance levels should be duly involved in planning,implementation and monitoring of the agricultural enterprises withdue recognition of the government

- Enhanced coordination between the governmental and non-governmental organisation as well as intra-governmentalorganisation is required to be mentioned from the central to the locallevel.



ANNEXESA

nnex

. 1 L

ist o

f foo

d su

rplu

s an

d fo

od d

efic

it d

istr

icts

in 2

013/

14

Def

icit

Dis

tric

tSu

rplu

s D

istr

ict

S.N

.D

istr

ict

Def

icit

Mt.

S.N

.D

istr

ict

Surp

lus

Mt.

S.N

.D

istr

ict

Bala

nce

Mt.

1D

hank

uta

-320

1Ta

plej

ung

2795

631

Arg

hakh

achi

2460

1

2U

dayp

ur-5

804

2Sa

nkhu

was

abha

5704

32N

awal

para

si37

637

3Sa

ptar

i-3

9659

3So

lukh

umbu

1167

033

Rupe

ndeh

i98

853

4Si

raha

-461

924

Panc

htha

r11

570

34Ka

pilv

astu

9157

5

5D

olak

ha-1

6262

5Ila

m32

665

35M

ugu

1670

6Ra

suw

a-9

586

Terh

athu

m22

489

36Ru

kum

9944

7Ka

vre

-742

97

Bhoj

pur

1030

1937

Saly

an14

001

8Bh

akta

pur

-365

918

Khot

ang

6823

038

Dai

lekh

1308

7

9La

litpu

r-6

0699

9O

khal

dhun

ga10

132

39Su

rkhe

t23

349

10Ka

thm

andu

-351

769

10Jh

apa

1354

8140

Dan

g27

809

11M

akaw

anpu

r-7

3111

Mor

ang

6344

141

Bank

e23

139

12M

ohat

tari

-414

1212

Suns

ari

3719

42Ba

rdiy

a83

743

13Sa

rlahi

-224

1613

Sind

huw

alch

owk

2621

943

Dot

i25

78

14Ra

utah

at-4

6685

14Ra

mec

hhap

2998

144

Kaila

li15

503

51


Def

icit

Dis

tric

tSu

rplu

s D

istr

ict

S.N

.D

istr

ict

Def

icit

Mt.

S.N

.D

istr

ict

Surp

lus

Mt.

S.N

.D

istr

ict

Bala

nce

Mt.

15Ch

itwan

-553

3215

Sind

huli

3251

945

Kanc

hanp

ur52

124

16M

anan

g-1

4316

Nuw

akot

4776

5

17M

usta

ng-2

9817

Dha

ding

1007

7

18D

olpa

-260

818

Dha

nush

a55

11

19H

umla

-847

019

Bara

1340

61

20Ju

mla

-487

820

Pars

a43

856

21Ka

likot

-144

8621

Gor

kha

2293

7

22Ro

lpa

-223

222

Lam

jung

4279

4

23Py

utha

n-6

559

23Ta

nahu

2914

8

24Ja

jark

ot-1

2743

24Ka

ski

4898

25Ba

jura

-157

7525

Parb

at21

011

26Ba

jhan

g-3

666

26Sy

angj

a65

175

27D

arch

ula

-584

827

Palp

a94

87

28Ac

hham

-824

028

Mya

gdi

2495

1

29Ba

itadi

-607

729

Bagl

ung

3494

8

30D

adel

dhur

a-1

230

30G

ulm

i14

376

Tota

l Def

icit

-825

,512

To

tal s

urpl

us1,

615,

403

52



Eastern region Edibleproduction Mt

RequirementMt.

Balance (+, -) Mt.

Eastern Mountain 119911 74581 45330

Eastern Hills 565605 323623 241982

Eastern Terai 835764 718974 116789

Total 1521280 1117178 404101

Central region Edibleproduction MT.

Requirement Balance (+, -)

Central Mountain 106169 97170 8999

Central Hills 637721 974598 -336877

Central Terai 1670007 1980302 17583

Total 1670007 1980302 -310295

Western region Edibleproduction MT.


WesternMountain

3240 3681 -441

Western Hills 864636 570311 294325

Western Terai 626705 398640 228065

Total 1494581 972632 521949

Mid-Western(MW) region

Edible productionMT.


MW Mountain 52197 80969 -28772

MW Hills 398380 359533 38847

MW Terai 417043 282351 134692

Total 867619 722853 144766

Annex 2: Food availability and requirement across the regions in2013/14

53

Annexes


Far-Western (FW)region

Edibleproduction MT.


FW Mountain 67639 92928 -25289

FW Hills 163743 176712 -12969

FW Terai 300907 233281 67626

Total 532290 502921 29369

Nepal 6,085,776 5,295,886 789,890

Source: Statistical Information on Nepalese Agriculture 2013/14

54



Ann

ex 3

: Im

port

and

exp

ort v

alue

of a

ll fo

od it

ems

Rs. i

n m

illio

n in

201

3/20

14

S.N

.Co

mm

odit

yIm

port

s Val

ueRs

. mill

ions

Expo

rts V

alue

Rs. m

illio

nsD

iffer

ence

s in

mill

ion

1Li

ve A

nim

al1,

948.

123

4.27

-1,7

13.8

3

2M

eat a

nd e

dibl

e m

eat o

ffal

148.

666

2.45

513.

85

3Fi

sh a

nd c

rust

acea

ns, m

ollu

sks

and

othe

rs1,

081.

45.

30-1

,076

.10

4D

airy

pro

duce

, bird

s, eg

gs, n

atur

al h

oney

1,94

8.3

142.

55-1

,805

.75

5Pr

oduc

ts o

f ani

mal

orig

in16

3.2

64.2

5-9

8.95

6Li

ve tr

ee a

nd o

ther

pla

nts

82.1

8.45

-73.

65

7Ed

ible

veg

etab

les

13,1

34.7

2205

.18

-10,

929.

52

8Ed

ible

frui

ts &

nut

s12

,180

.641

61.0

3-8

,019

.57

9Co

ffee,

tea,

mat

e &

Spi

ces

5,20

5.8

6985

.99

1,78

0.19

10Ce

real

s28

,615

.519

.56

-28,

595.

94

11Pr

oduc

ts o

f mill

ing

indu

stry

1,36

4.2

148.

66-1

,215

.54

12O

il se

eds

& o

leag

inou

s fr

uits

8,86

7.3

1624

.09

-7,2

43.2

1

13La

c: G

ums,

resi

ns &

veg

etab

le s

aps

156.

15.

34-1

50.7

6

55

Annexes


S.N

.Co

mm

odit

yIm

port

s Val

ueRs

. mill

ions

Expo

rts V

alue

Rs. m

illio

nsD

iffer

ence

s in

mill

ion

14Ve

geta

ble

plai

ting

mat

eria

ls: v

eget

able

277.

785

4.36

-576

.66

15A

nim

al o

r veg

etab

le fa

ts a

nd o

ils23

,011

.124

3.11

-22,

767.

99

16Pr

epar

atio

n of

mea

t, fis

h et

c.83

.10.

20-8

2.90

17Su

gar &

sug

ar c

onfe

ctio

nary

3,77

3.8

100.

58-3

,673

.22

18Co

coa

& c

ocoa

pre

para

tion

1,24

4.4

0.66

-1,2

43.7

4

19Pr

epar

atio

n of

cer

eals

, flo

ur, s

tarc

h or

milk

4,03

3.9

982.

91-3

,050

.99

20Pr

epar

atio

n of

veg

etab

les,

frui

ts, n

uts o

r oth

ers

1,02

0.1

4447

.05

-3,4

26.9

5

21M

isce

llane

ous

edib

le p

repa

ratio

n5,

387.

511

1.34

-5,2

76.1

6

22Be

vera

ges,

spiri

ts &

vin

egar

2,80

4.2

33.2

7-2

,770

.93

23Re

sidu

es &

was

te fr

om th

e fo

od in

dust

ries

8,42

1.7

1505

.04

-6,9

16.6

6

24To

bacc

o &

man

ufac

ture

d to

bacc

o2,

551.

819

57.4

1-5

94.3

9

Tota

l12

7,50

5.4

2650

3.03

-101

,002

.3

Sour

ce: S

tatis

tical

Info

rmat

ion

on N

epal

ese

Agric

ultu

re 2

013/

14

56



Them

esN

atio

nal S

ocia

l Pol

icie

s

Righ

t to

Educ

atio

nIn

terim

Con

stitu

tion

of N

epal

206

3 (2

007)

(Art

icle

17)

Educ

atio

n Ac

t, 20

28 (1

971)

Educ

atio

n Ru

les,

2059

(200

2)

Non

For

mal

Edu

catio

n Po

licy,

206

3 (2

007)

Spec

ial E

duca

tion

Polic

y, 2

053

(199

6)

Child

ren’

s Ac

t, 20

48 (1

992)

Educ

atio

n fo

r All:

Nat

iona

l Pla

n of

Act

ion,

200

1-20

15

Scho

ol S

ecto

r Ref

orm

Pla

n 20

09-2

015

Righ

t to

Hea

lthIn

terim

Con

stitu

tion

of N

epal

, 206

3 (2

007)

(Art

icle

s 16

and

35)

Nat

iona

l Hea

lth P

olic

y, 2

048

(199

1)

Nat

iona

l Hea

lth P

olic

y, 2

071

(201

5)

Dru

gs A

ct, 2

035

(197

8)

Ann

ex 4

: Nat

iona

l Soc

ial P

olic

ies

57

Annexes


Them

esN

atio

nal S

ocia

l Pol

icie

s

Righ

t to

Empl

oym

ent

Inte

rim C

onst

itutio

n of

Nep

al, 2

063

(200

7) (A

rtic

les

13, 4

, 18

and

30)

Labo

ur A

ct, 2

048

(199

2)

Labo

ur R

ules

, 205

0 (1

993)

Labo

ur a

nd E

mpl

oym

ent P

olic

y, 2

062

(200

6)

Nat

iona

l You

th P

olic

y, 2

066

(201

0)

Trad

e U

nion

Act

, 204

9 (1

992)

Civi

l Ser

vice

Act

, 204

9 (1

992)

Nat

iona

l Em

ploy

men

t Pol

icy

(NEP

), 20

72 (2

015)

Bond

ed L

abou

r (Pr

ohib

ition

) Act

, 205

8 (2

002)

Bond

ed L

abou

r (Pr

ohib

ition

) Rul

es ,

2067

(201

0)

Child

Lab

our (

Proh

ibiti

on a

nd R

egul

atio

n) A

ct, 2

056

(200

0)

Child

Lab

our (

Proh

ibiti

on a

nd R

egul

atio

n) R

ules

, 206

2 (2

006)

Fore

ign

Empl

oym

ent A

ct, 2

064

(200

7)

Fore

ign

Empl

oym

ent P

olic

y, 2

068,

201

2

Hum

an T

raffi

ckin

g an

d Tr

ansp

orta

tion

(Con

trol

) Act

, 206

4 (2

070)

Hum

an T

raffi

ckin

g an

d Tr

ansp

orta

tion

(Con

trol

) Rul

es, 2

065

(200

8)

58



Them

esN

atio

nal S

ocia

l Pol

icie

s

Righ

t to

Soci

al S

ecur

ity

Inte

rim C

onst

itutio

n of

Nep

al, 2

063

(200

7) (A

rtic

le 1

3,35

and

17)

Soci

al S

ecur

ity a

nd P

rote

ctio

n of

Sen

ior C

itize

n Ac

t, 20

62 (2

006)

Loca

l Sel

f-G

over

nanc

e Ac

t, 20

55(1

999)

Civi

l Ser

vice

Act

, 204

9 (1

992)

and

Reg

ulat

ions

, 205

1 (1

994)

Labo

ur A

ct, 2

048

(199

0)

Nep

al H

ealth

Ser

vice

Act

, 205

3 (1

997)

Tran

spor

tatio

n Ac

t, 20

49 (1

992)

and

Tra

nspo

rtat

ion

Regu

latio

ns, 2

051

(199

4)

Prot

ectio

n an

d W

elfa

re o

f the

Dis

able

d Pe

rson

s Ac

t, 20

39 (1

982)

Retir

emen

t Fun

d Ac

t, 20

42 (1

985)

Seni

or C

itize

ns A

ct, 2

063

(200

6)

Seni

or C

itize

ns R

ules

, 206

5 (2

008)

Soci

al S

ecur

ity F

und

(Man

agem

ent a

nd O

pera

tion)

Rul

es, 2

067

(201

0)

Soci

al W

elfa

re A

ct, 2

049

(199

2)

Child

ren’

s Ac

t, 20

48 (1

992)

Child

ren’

s Ru

le, 2

051

(199

5)

Emer

genc

y Ch

ild M

igra

tion

Fund

(Ope

ratio

n) R

ules

, 206

7 (2

010)

59

Annexes


Them

esN

atio

nal S

ocia

l Pol

icie

s

Righ

t to

Food

In

terim

Con

stitu

tion

of N

epal

, 206

3 (2

007)

(Art

icle

17)

Cons

titut

ion

of N

epal

, 201

5 (A

rtic

le 3

6)

Food

Act

, 203

3 (1

976)

Food

Act

, 202

3 (1

967)

Food

Rul

es, 2

027

(197

0)

Cons

umer

Pro

tect

ion

Act,

2054

(199

8)

Blac

k–m

arke

ting

and

som

e ot

her s

ocia

l offe

nses

and

Pun

ishm

ent A

ct, 2

032

(197

5)

Esse

ntia

l Goo

ds P

rote

ctio

n Ac

t, 20

12 (1

955)

Pove

rty

Alle

viat

ion

Fund

Act

, 206

3 (2

006)

Agric

ultu

re D

evel

opm

ent S

trat

egy

(AD

S), 2

071

(201

4)

60



61

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64



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