Food dependency on rise

According to a data shared at a press conference organized by the Nepal Agriculture Research Council (NARC) in the capital today, Nepal annually invests Rs 39.08 billion to import food grains.

It is stated that the country annually imports vegetables amounting to worth 12.95 billion, fruits Rs 10.83 billion, fishery items Rs 820.29 million and meat worth Rs 100.12 million from India.

On the other hand, Nepal exports tea, coffee, ginger and other spices worth Rs 8.03 billion only.

NARC official, Harikrishna Upreti said that youths were found reluctant in agro sectors as they were only oriented for foreign employment in golf countries which has badly affected the agriculture sectors. The women workers have contributed a lot for the agricultural production, he added.

However, there are 62 agricultural research centres established for promoting scientific way of farming in the country but the result is not satisfactory.

It may be noted that the government allocated Rs 2.45 billion for agricultural research programmes which is not enough for better result.