Govt in homework to fix price of agricultural goods judiciously

Kathmandu, Feb. 13

Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development Padma Kumari Aryal said on Saturday that the price of agricultural produce should be set in a way to cover the farmers’ production cost.

Farmers are the true workers that put their hard work to produce food and vegetables but the layers that are in between them and consumers have seriously harmed them, she said while addressing a programme organised on the occasion of 27the anniversary of Kalimati Fruit and Vegetable Market Development Committee.

“Farmers’ goods haven’t received fair price. Their participation must be ensured while setting the price of their produce. It’s their hard work and investment but somebody else is setting the price of their goods. It hurts them sometimes,” she said.

She stated that there should be a provision to set the price of agricultural goods considering the labour, investment and time of farmers, their profit must be ensured.

According to Minister Aryal, price of agricultural produce goes much higher compared to the price farmers receive therefore a system should be established to provide justice to them.

She said that the market price of such goods should be set in a way it benefits all three stakeholders in the market chain – farmers, traders and consumers. She also maintained that now only the traders have fair share of profit from the agricultural goods.

She said that the prosperity of the country could be achieved from agriculture. “Nepal has high potential in agriculture due to environmental and geographical conditions,” she stated.

Minister Aryal said that there is a need to develop many agricultural markets across the country to materialise the government’s concept to push forward both the production and markets.

“To achieve this goal, government, private sector and cooperatives should walk together. Government is clear about the importance of tripartite partnership to meet development goal,” she said.

The government is mulling to develop three levels of markets at the three levels – federal, provincial and local. It has already initiated a process to establish nine large markets.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 14 February 2021.