हाम्रो प्रविधि: राम्रो नेपाल (Our Technology: Prosperour Nepal)

by Sagar Mani Gnawali, Himalayan Times - The agricultural sector in Nepal is confronted with the major challenge of increasing production to feed a growing and increasingly prosperous population in a situation of decreasing availability of natural resources. Factors of particular concern are water shortages, declining soil fertility, effects of climate change, rapid decrease of fertile agricultural lands due to urbanization and dislike of the younger generation to involve themselves in agricultural activities. This has made the youths give priority to foreign employment rather that to the agricultural sector which is labour intensive in Nepal’s context. The farmers should be made aware of cash crop cultivation instead of traditional farming of food crops. They should be trained well to sharpen their skills so that agriculture productivity could be increased. The main barrier to achieve this result is unavailability of technical manpower in villages. The service of agriculture experts from the urban areas or district headquarter can be made available even in remote villages virtually at any time through the ICT Information and Communication Technology) Network. New approaches and technical innovations are required to cope with these challenges and to enhance the livelihoods of the farmers. The use of ICT would be a milestone to enhance food security and support rural livelihoods.Agricultural productivity could be increased qualitatively and quantitatively.

 

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