MoALD assess projects

 Kathmandu, Mar. 5

The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD) Friday held a coordinative meeting with the Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperative ministries of all seven provinces to assess the projects in the areas under the ministry.

The meeting attended by Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development Padma Kumari Aryal and provincial ministers and secretaries had assessed the effectiveness of the projects and programmes in the agriculture and livestock sectors, said the MoALD in a statement.

Minister Aryal said that the assessment would help in correcting the mistakes made in the past and make the programmes more effective in the days to come.

Stating that agricultural programmes should be executed effectively to meet the national aspiration of ‘prosperous Nepal, happy Nepali’, she pointed to the need of special role of the provinces along with the local units in the drive as most of the programmes are implemented at the local level.

“There might be some shortcomings in the policies due to the tight deadlines while formulating them. We need to find out such weaknesses and amend the laws and policies in a way they would support in implementing the projects and programmes effectively,” she said.

Minister Aryal said that the programmes implemented by the provinces must be model projects.

Agriculture Minister of Bagmati Province Dawa Dorje Lama stated that the agriculture sector would achieve the desired progress if the Prime Minister Agriculture Modernisation Programme made more effective.

He pointed out to the need of creating uniformity in the programmes of agricultural grants.

Likewise, Agriculture Minister of Lumbini Province Arati Poudel said that agriculture insurance was not impactful as expected. Insurance in the livestock sector is somewhat better but not in agriculture, she said.

Agriculture Minister of Province 2 Shailendra Prasad Sah said that there were some lapses in the policies created for the implementation of federalism. He also said that all provinces need to work to replace agricultural imports by increasing the domestic product.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 6 March 2021.