Governments stress inter-provincial cooperation in agriculture sector

Kathmandu, Apr. 12

Provincial officials have said that the sub-national governments are struggling to achieve development targets in agriculture amidst lack of budget and human resource crunch, and pragmatic planning.

Speaking at an interaction on 'Interprovincial relation and cooperation in agriculture sector' organised by Federalism and Localisation Centre (FLC) in Lalitpur on Sunday, they stressed on integrated planning, resource mobilisation and market development for agricultural produces.

Keshav Devkota, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD), said that roughly 60 per cent of the budget allocated for agriculture is spent on fertilizer.

While development work should be executed in coordination among the three levels of the government, some programmes at province-level are merely copied from federal plans without context-specific customisation.

"The main challenge is one of decreasing resources paired with an increasing number of institutions," said Devkota.

Hari Prasad Pandit, Senior Agriculture-Economic Expert and head of Planning Department in Lumbini Province, shared that despite agriculture being a priority, Lumbini Province has only 38 per cent staff recruitment of the total required staffs.

The provinces receive less than 9 per cent of the total budget, while the federal government spends heavily on fertilisers. Investment in agriculture has declined by 3.46 per cent this year, with uneven provincial allocations.

Pandit said that the absence of a Federal Agriculture Act has stalled provincial and local legislation, caused audit biases and forced Lumbini to seek a grant act instead. The lack of expertise also causes problems. For example, in Lumbini Province, a cold store built for orange failed as the facility was suitable for potatoes only.

The produces kept rotting for three years. Meanwhile, given the huge electricity bills the farmers are not willing to use the cold store which requires 100 per cent electricity subsidy, said Pandit.  

Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development Minister of Bagmati Province Madhusudan Poudel appreciated the achievements of provinces in agriculture sector.

“Agriculture is critical for local employment, yet Nepal faces the challenge of cheap cross-border products undercutting high-cost domestic agricultural production," he said.

While Bagmati Province has banned plastic flowers and runs a cold store, the federal government continues to buy milk from India despite an existing local powder plant. "To address these issues, the federal government should subsidise the electricity bills of cold store and prioritise preserving and utilizing national production," said Minister Poudel.

Likewise, Manjari Shakya Bajracharya, Deputy Mayor of Lalitpur Metropolitan City, said that the governments must take integrated data seriously, reduce legal hurdles, protect agricultural land, stop using fertilisers that developed countries discard.

Arjun Dev Jnagwali, Agriculture Extension Officer, Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperative Development of Gandaki Province, said that the technical staffs are acting as administrative.

Dr. Khim Lal Devkota, Chair of FLC, presented a paper highlighting the significance of interprovincial learning and cooperation in agriculture sector.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 13 April 2026.