सिंहदरबार संवाददाता
Dang. Madan Chaudhary of Tulsipur Sub-metropolitan City-15 has been cultivating vegetables commercially. After receiving a farmer’s identity card from the municipality, he has no problem selling the vegetables he produces. He goes to Tulsipur market every morning with the same identity card and vegetables to sell vegetables.
He is happy that the work started by all three levels of government has been a positive step for farmers as there has been a demand for farmer registration since the past. He says that by distributing identity cards to farmers, the grants coming to the municipality will be used properly and all farmers will get them, he says.
Syani Tharuni of Tulsipur Sub-metropolitan City-15 has cultivated vegetables on 17 kaththas of land. As soon as the farmers were registered, he took the farmer’s identity card. He said that he received vegetable seeds, fertilizers and agricultural machinery from the same identity card. His family of seven is financed by vegetable farming. He said that he has received pesticides and other services from the municipality.
Farmer-oriented programs have been launched at the local level of Dang. Tulsipur Sub-metropolitan City has started farmer registration. The municipality has started farmer registration from one thousand households in the initial phase. Dhanraj Gautam, head of the agriculture branch, said that information about farmers and non-farmers will be available only through farmer registration. There are 46 thousand households within the sub-metropolitan city. The sub-metropolitan city has started the farmer registration work as the federal government has started it. Gautam, the head of the agriculture branch, said that the data collection started after problems were seen in the government’s subsidies due to the lack of accurate data on actual farmers.
He said that once the data on actual farmers comes, the subsidies provided by the state will be properly utilized and non-farmers will not be able to benefit. According to Gautam, the details of the crops, fruits, vegetables, dairy products and meat produced by farmers will be included in the listing. After the listing, the farmers have been given identity cards with a ‘QR code’. So far, 70 farmers have received farmer identity cards, he said.
Tulsipur Sub-metropolitan City has distributed farmer identity cards for the sale and distribution of agricultural products produced by farmers in the market area. The farmers sell their produce in the market area from 5 am to 8 am with their identity cards, said Dhanraj Gautam, head of the agriculture branch.
Mayor Tikaram Khadka said that farmer registration has been started and will be done in all 19 wards of the municipality. He said that after the registration data comes, a plan can be made regarding subsidized fertilizers, seeds and services provided to farmers. Mayor Khadka said that the registration work will be completed within two years in coordination with the federal and provincial governments. He has urged the farmers in the city to register and join the municipality’s services.
Rapti Rural Municipality has started the work of farmer registration in the district. The rural municipality is going to provide subsidies to farmers who farm on leased land. The ‘Youth-Targeted Contract Farming for Self-Employment’ program has been implemented as per the annual approved program for the current fiscal year 2081/82.
According to Neb Bahadur Oli, Chief Administrative Officer of the Rural Municipality, farmers interested in receiving the grant can apply with the necessary documents. For this, according to Chapter 4 of the Contract Farming Program Operation Procedure 2079 Amendment 2080, the application form in Schedule 2, the program proposal in Schedule 3, the landowner registration certificate, a copy of citizenship, a copy of the rental agreement, a license from the concerned body in the case of public or government land, and a three-year business plan have been made mandatory.
According to the Rural Municipality, farmers will have to lease a minimum of five kaththas to a maximum of one hundred kaththas of land and cultivate it. In addition, there is a provision for a three-year contract agreement for annual crops and a 15-year contract agreement for multi-annual crops. Under the program, first priority will be given to farmers cultivating cash crops. Selected farmers will receive 100 percent land rent subsidy in the first year, 50 percent in the second year, and 25 percent in the third year.
Rural Municipality Chairman Prakash Bista said that the program has been implemented with the objective of creating employment for unemployed youth through agriculture in the country and making the municipality self-reliant in agriculture. This program has been operational since the fiscal year 2079/80. Currently, 17 farmers from different wards of the rural municipality are benefiting from this facility.
Lumbani Province Planning Commission member Dr. Sudan Wali informed that the target cannot be reached without data. Farmers could not take the products they started farming and working with to the market. How far is the market? What is the market demand? He believes that the program could not be successful because of the lack of statistical analysis.
When working based on statistics, the possibilities and opportunities can be analyzed and the work can be carried forward, which also gives results. In the previous year, the provincial government had to bear losses when it introduced agricultural programs without statistics. The provincial government introduced a pig farming incentive program but could not succeed in it. When the program did not yield results for the purpose for which it was introduced, the farmers’ hard work and the state’s investment were wasted.
Recently, the number of unemployment has been increasing. The provincial government has started work with the goal and objective of making agriculture self-reliant. When Dilli Bahadur Chaudhary was the Chief Minister, agricultural data from all 12 districts of Lumbini Province was collected and all local governments were asked to collect data, based on which the real farmers and cultivable land will be identified. He is of the opinion that the agricultural system will give results accordingly.
The Ghorahi Sub-metropolitan City Agriculture and Livestock Branch has only discussed the issue of land management. Ghorahi Sub-metropolitan City Chief Administrative Officer Rishiram KC said that the land bank will act as a bridge in cases where farmers who want to cultivate do not get land and cannot cultivate because they have land. He said that this scheme will also help in promoting crops as per the need, as not only details of cultivable land and cultivated land within the municipality will be prepared, but also details according to the crop. He says that this program will also be effective in protecting and managing the environment.
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