Kathmandu. Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Dr. Govinda Prasad Sharma, has said that we need to think differently about agri-food security and commercial farming. Speaking at the meeting of the Agriculture, Cooperatives and Natural Resources Committee at Singha Durbar on Monday, he stressed the need to commercialize agriculture along with food security.
Secretary Dr. Sharma said that food security should be linked to national security and said that even rich countries have started thinking sensitively about the issue of food security and national security. He said that agriculture should be commercialized by first securing food security.
He said that subsistence agriculture is being displaced in Nepal. He said that farmers are increasingly attracted to commercial farming systems as their income increases.
He said, “There is a talk of linking food security with national security. The first priority should be food security. Commercialization also occurs. Sustainable commercialization is food security because now, whether it is a rich country or a poor country, they are becoming more sensitive in terms of food security. Therefore, we need to look at food security and commercialization issues. The second thing is that when the balance is approached, like when we go from sustainable farming to commercialization, when the market gives the green signal, agriculture will be transformed. If agriculture does not become a means of family sustenance, if agriculture does not become a means of agriculture, agriculture will be abandoned. This is what our current trend has shown and the agricultural census has also shown. Agriculture that does not generate income is gradually being abandoned, and now commercial agriculture that generates income is slowly increasing.’
Dr. Rajendra Prasad Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Cooperatives and Livestock, emphasized that the unitary policy should be implemented in accordance with federalism. He said that making too many policies and rules will lead to problems in implementation.
He said, ‘Federalism is the key to implementing the unitary policy because otherwise, if there are too many policies, it will take a different path. We have tried to put some effort and effort into how we can take this forward.’
In the committee meeting, experts emphasized the need to include farmers in the Social Security Fund for pension provision. They said that a policy should be formulated and promoted regarding the contribution that the state can make for farmers’ pension facilities.
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