SME Times News Bureau | 23 Jan, 2017
Vegetable
imports by Nepal from India have continued to increase even though
the region has seen a rise in commercial vegetable farming, a media
report said on Sunday.
According to recent statistics, the
region imports vegetables worth around Nepalese Rs 55 billion (around
$504.29 million) every year. The export volume, however, is
negligible, the Kathmandu Post reported.
Potato worth Rs 370
million is imported on an annual basis while green vegetable imports
stand at around Rs 180 million, the report said.
Several
government and non-government agencies have launched schemes to
motivate farmers to begin commercial farming. Belauri, Krishnapur,
Jhalari, Mahendranagar and Mahakali are some of the major
vegetable-producing areas.
According to the District
Agriculture Development Office (DADO), vegetables are cultivated on
4,450 hectares of land in Kanchanpur, while the output stands at
around 56,000 tonnes annually.
However, the production barely
meets the local demand, and around 25,000 tonnes of vegetables are
imported from India annually. "More than 50 per cent of the
import is consumed in Kanchanpur district," said Yagya Raj
Joshi, senior agricultural development officer at DADO.
In a
bid to decrease reliance on imports, the government has launched a
10-year scheme to boost domestic production.
Starting this
fiscal, the Prime Minister's Agriculture Modernisation Project has
envisioned adopting modern farm techniques to boost productivity, and
making the country self-reliant in food.