KATHMANDU – A three-day symposium has kicked off in the federal capital here to deliberate on and come up with an appropriate conclusion regarding the use of improved varieties of seeds, fertilizer and agricultural implements for enhancing the soil nutrients and increased agriculture productivity.
The symposium is jointly organized by Salt Trading Corporation Limited and the Indian Potash Limited with the technical support of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development. The symposium will discuss on a range of topics related to modernization of agriculture.
High-ranking officials of the Government of Nepal, the province government officials, agricultural scientists, stakeholders and renowned agricultural scientists from India are taking part in the seminar.
Salt Trading Corporation Limited has stated that the symposium has been organized with the objective of receiving suggestions and recommendations on issues related to the supply of major agricultural inputs (seeds, fertilizers, and machinery) and the subsidy mechanism and of discussing the issues related to international trade of major agricultural input. The symposium also aims to know about the subsidy mechanism of inputs in India.
Group discussions will be held on over a dozen topics in course of the programme. The topics include: fertilizer policies and subsidy mechanism in Nepal; general soil nutrients status of Nepalese farming land and type of plant nutrients required; the current international market of fertilizer in relation to DAP, Urea and MoP and how Nepal should prepare itself in the next one year; and present scenario of provincial agricultural input demand and supply, and challenges and prospects.
Also discussions will be held on topics related to government subsidy in different agricultural sector, prevailing weakness and recommendation for present policy for output-oriented implication; and to the present situation of farm mechanization and scope of agricultural machineries and agricultural tools.
Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation, Kumar Rajbhandari said farmers can be benefitted when the agricultural scientists of Nepal and India share their knowledge and experience as the geographical conditions of both countries are nearly the same.
“In Nepal’s context, basic production inputs such as irrigation, continuous supply of fertilizer, improved seeds, commercialization of production, value addition, farm mechanization for smallholder farmers, and agricultural credit subsidy are still not in sync.,” he said adding that this symposium has been organized against this backdrop and it is expected to provide valuable inputs for improving upon this situation.
The Salt Trading Corporation Limited is doing its best to increase agriculture production in the country by facilitating in the import and supply of quality fertilizers, improved seeds and modern tools and machinery. The government has given the responsibility to the STCL for the import and supply of subsidized fertilizer.
The government expects that agriculture production can be increased through modernization and improving the quality of soil and use of standard fertilizer, seeds and implements, ultimately leading to a growth in the income level of the farmers.
Rajbhandari said the papers to be presented, the conclusions and recommendations drawn up after rich discussions in course of the symposium will help in transformation of Nepal’s agriculture sector. Addressing the inaugural session, STCL Chairman Kalyan Govinda Shrestha expressed the belief that the symposium participated by important stakeholders from Nepal and India will extend significant support in the development of the country’s agriculture sector.
