Kathmandu,
Apr. 11: The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF)'s MM4P programme,
SunFarmer Nepal and Prabhu Management have signed a tri-partite deal to
implement a project that is said to enhance farmer's income by integrating
digital technology in agricultural value chains.
"MM4P in Nepal will
support SunFarmer to implement an innovative community owned contract farming
model driven on digital innovations. The solution will include pay-as-you-go
solar pumps, an agriculture market intelligence system for farmers and access
to finance for agriculture inputs, logistics and sales," said the UNCDF in
a press release.
Prabhu
Management through its rural agent network will provide the distribution
infrastructure for financial services.
“Smallholder
farmers in Nepal face many barriers to prosperity. The new project will help
farmers dramatically increase their income with modern agricultural solutions
and digital finance. Our agribusiness will invest in infrastructure (irrigation
and processing), provide quality inputs, train farmers on high-value crop
cultivation and market and sell farmers’ product via a co-owned company between
SunFarmer and partner farmers,” stated Avishek Malla, CEO of SunFarmer.
Agriculture
is the primary sector of the Nepalese economy. It employs 66% of the population
and contributes 35% to the country GDP.
Most
farmers own small plots of land, where they grow subsistence crops and
vegetables using traditional farming practices with limited access to finance
for buying high quality inputs, which is one of the main reasons for low agriculture
productivity, said the UNCDF.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 12 April 2018.
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