Published by: Nuru
Published date: 20 Jan 2022
Agriculture is the production of food or other materials by farming, both by planting crops and keeping animals. It provides food for people and animals as well as raw materials for industries. Animals are reared for milk, meat, fur, wool, etc to be used as raw materials by the industries. Some modernized agriculture has highly specialized on very few or sometimes a single crop. Types of crops cultivated and species of animals reared and their products depend on climate, the fertility of the soil, the technology used, etc. application of the improved irrigation system, seeds, fertilizers, trained, modern tools, etc can help to grow the products.
Importance of agriculture
Nepal is an agricultural country but hardly 20% of the total land is under cultivation and farming must provide food for the population. The population is increasing by nearly 2% every year (that's nearly 5, 00,000 people) but the land which can be cultivated remains the same, even occupied growingly by settlement and industries.
Agriculture is a very important economic activity in Nepal. It is a non-alternative occupation for the mass of unskilled people. Nepal's varied climate and soil type can be suitable for growing diverse crop types and animal species. Agriculture supports nearly 40% of the national economy. It provides raw materials for many industries.
Problems of Nepalese Agriculture
We have not been able to improve our agriculture a lot. It is in still traditional and labor-intensive. Subsistence nature and lower productivity are its major characteristics. The agriculture sector has been given due priority by all the economic plans; still expected outcome has not been seen.
The following factors are responsible for our agricultural backwardness.
a. Traditional farming:
Nepalese agriculture used traditional methods of farming. Agricultural tools are not advanced. Due to traditional farming, work is very difficult and production in low. Farmers are not skilled in the methods of modern agriculture. They are also not healthy enough to realize the potential of their farms. Crops and grains are destroyed by pests, insects, and weeds. Animals also cannot give good yield when they suffer from diseases
b. Lack of proper irrigation system:
We have not been able to utilize our vast water resources to irrigate the cultivable land. Hardly about 20% of the total land under cultivation has good irrigation facilities. So farmers have to depend highly on monsoon rain which in not timely and reliable. In winter, much of the farmland remains unused due to the lack of irrigation facilities. During each monsoon landslides floods excessive rain damage of the cropland.
c. Lack of transport and market:
Due to lack of market, our agro-based products rot in the places where they are grown. Foodgrains grown in the Terai cannot be transported to other areas easily nor can fruits such as apples grown in the north easily get a market in the south. Due to lack of storage facilities, agricultural products suffer low prices.
d. Unscientific and undemocratic distribution of land:
Land distribution in not scientific and democratic. Those who are actual tillers don't own land at all while those who don't even tread field hoard huge areas of land and leave it uncultivated. Fertile valleys and plains are being occupied by the settlement and industries. Besides, there in over-fragmentation of agricultural land i.e. broken into too small parcels. It is difficult to cultivate such parcels. All this results in low production.
e. Overpressure of manpower:
Less than 20% of total area of Nepal in under cultivation. But over 60% of the population overburdens the land. With rapid population growth, a number of farmers cultivating the same field in increasing. When the share of land for a farmer gets very low, per capita production decreases.
f. Poor economic condition:
Nepalese farmers are subsistence farmers. They are compelled to take the loan even to run their family. They are born in debt and die in debt. Interest rates are high. Much of their production goes in paying interests. In such conditions, they cannot afford to apply new technology and machinery to improve farming.
g. Lack of research activities:
A certain soil type and climate type in suitable for one or few crops. There are diverse climate and soil types in Neal. But there have not been enough research and experiments to find the best crops and the best climate and soil type. Government plans and endeavors are quite insufficient in this regard.
Ways to overcome this problem to improve Nepales agriculture are as follows:
The action of buying and selling goods and services is called trade. It involves the transfer or exchange of goods for money. It is essential for the satisfaction of human needs/wants. Broadly they are two types of trade are as follows:
Traders buy goods in one part of the country and sell in other places inside Nepal. Fruits vegetables, animals, wood, and some manufactured goods such as Coca-Cola and noodles move around like this. This is an internal trade.
Very few countries have everything they need. For example, many countries have no oil. So countries buy goods (import) from other countries and sell other goods (export) to other countries. It is good to sell more than you buy. This is a trade surplus. If a country buys more than it sells, it has a trade deficit which means less money for investment and development. The patterns of international trade are very complicated, and an important part of world politics, but many LDC export one or two raw materials ( such as coffee, sugar, cotton), while MDC export more expensive manufactured goods.
Importance of international trade
Some big countries such as India have tried a policy of being self-sufficient, that is not to trade at all with other countries, but only to use their own natural and human resources, and develop their own industries to supply all their own national needs
Even countries that could be self-sufficient are now entering into world trade. Increasingly all countries are waiting to join in free world trade. So there must be advantages! However, poorer countries with only one or two raw materials to export may be always in danger: too much of their product causes low prices, but the harvest fails there may be insufficient to export, or world demands may change. So there are dangers as well. But let's look at the advantages.
International trade for Nepal
Nepal's international trade is in deficit. The trade is India-centered but the government has started trade diversification by keeping trade relations with other countries. Nepal exports raw materials at a low price and imports manufactured goods at a high price. The main exports of our country are ready-made dresses, carpets, agriculture, and forest-related goods. But the international market of many of our exports has declined recently.
Problems
Nepal's international trade is not prospering. It has many problems, which are:
Solutions measures
The industry is any business activity that is connected with the production, manufacture, and construction of goods and services. Broadly on the basis of their production industries are categorized into three groups: primary producing raw materials, secondary producing goods using the raw materials or product of other secondary industries, and tertiary producing services, not goods.
Agriculture, forestry, mining, etc. belong to primary industries. House building, car factories, furniture, hydropower generation, etc. are examples of secondary industries while tourism, hotels, banks, insurance companies, schools, cinemas, etc. rank in the third category. Raw materials, capital, energy, skilled manpower, political stability, markets are important infrastructures of industries.
Manufacturing industries take the raw materials and produce something manufactured that can be sold either inside the countries (so none needs to be imported) or to other countries (thus earning foreign currency). There can be small-scaled industries, in a home or village, or large scale in many factories. In all cases, industries provide work and earn money for individuals or a country.
Agriculture produces food and raw materials. Raw materials are ones you can't use straight away. You need to process them before they can be used. Mining and forestry produce raw materials. Tourism and other services have similar effects, so nowadays they are also called industries.
Industries in Nepal
In Europe, industries started and grew rapidly 200 years ago but are now declining or changing. In Nepal, they only began in 1936, in the time of Juddha Shumsher. The matches first were jute, cotton, sugar, and hydropower. Many of these industries were later run by the government, and with the lack of good management have had to close. But the private enterprise was also possible and is increasingly important.
In Nepal industries are classified mainly on the basis of their fixed capital as a cottage, small -scale, medium-scale industries.
According to the Industrial Enterprises Act 2049(with amendment), cottage industries in Nepal include the following types of industries:
Industries with their fixed capital up to two lakhs include handloom, warping, semi-power loom, dying and painting, sewing, weaving, carpentry, pottery, bamboo and reed work, paper making, pottery, jewelry, leatherwork, rural tanning, making goods of cotton, clay, baby, jute, handicraft, doll, batik, making utensils, etc.
Note
Similarly, according to the industrial policy 2067, a small-scale industry has a fixed capital of up to 50 million rupees, a medium-scaled industry has its fixed capital from 50-150 million rupees while the large-scale industry has over 150 million rupees.
Importance of Nepalese Industry are:
Agriculture alone cannot fulfill human needs in modern times. Industries are essential components of every economy. But industrialization is in its preliminary stage in Nepal. Nepalese agriculture has not improved due to the lack of industries. Cottage industries that can be started locally and utilize local raw materials provide employment and supply consumer goods. Industries provide things for making Nepal more self-sufficient so that fewer things are bought from other countries that help to protect our national wealth. They provide jobs for the mass of people both skilled and unskilled. Industries also help in reducing the excessive dependency on agriculture for work and also help in skill development and development of trade and business. More widely distributed industries can help reduce the regional disparity of the country.
Problems and Solutions in Nepalese Industry
Problems
Nepal is lagging far behind in industrial development.
The following are the major factors responsible for it:
a. Poor infrastructures
For industrialization several infrastructures such as a supply of raw materials, provision of good transport and communication system, power and skilled manpower are essential. When these infrastructures are constructed well, industrialization begins to pace forward. Such infrastructure is constructed well, industrialization begins to pace forward. Such infrastructures have not properly developed in Nepal. Mineral products are rare. Many places which could supply agricultural and forest produced raw materials have not been connected by transport. A power supply such as electricity is dreadfully poor. Besides, Nepalese workers are not technically skilled for factory works.
b. Capital Deficiency
In rich countries, private companies and governments have invested a lot in industries. But in Nepal lack of capital has always been a major hindrance to industrialization. The government is also highly dependent on foreign aid for large aid scale industries. Due to lack of capital, the existing industries and factories also cannot be improved.
c. Lack of market
Nepal itself is not a large market. Nepali consumers have low purchasing power. They cannot use many industrial products. Nepali goods are generally costly because of the manual labor it has involved and small scale production. These goods also cannot maintain quality enough to compete in the competitive international markets. Nepal is an open market for foreign-made products. It does not have easy access to markets in 3rd countries also because it is physically landlocked and economically India-locked.
d. Lack of protection
Infant industries need good protection until they are mature enough to compete. They need to be provided with a subsidiary in certain conditions for obtaining their raw materials and machinery. But industries in Nepal have suffered pressure due to the uncontrolled flow of foreign goods which are cheaper and more qualitative. In such conditions, indigenous industries collapse. Besides, poor security situations of the country in the last decade have paralyzed Nepal's overall industrialization.
e. Lack of inspiring policy
It has not good policy for developing infrastructures, controlling imports, skill development, and modernization of industries and so on. Political instability and poor security situation have become dominant. Industries of Nepal have often fallen victims to strike, extortion and load shedding. Industrial policy is affected by every political change in the country. The market is not secure. Due to lack of good industrial policy and stability, industrialists are slowly discouraged.
Solutions:
Among many other countries, Nepal is an agricultural country where about 70%people are engaged for their livelihood .most of the raw materials are needed for industries are produced from agriculture sectors.For example, tobacco is required to produce cigarettes, Tea leaves are required for tea. sugarcane is required to produce sugar.
Need and potentiality of agro-based industries in Nepal
There is a strong need for the agro-based industry for sound agricultural development in Nepal. The farmers get the right value of their products if the agro-based industries are flourished and they consume more raw materials. It directly supports the improvement of the living standard of farmers.so, we should use the agricultural raw materials produced in our country and expand the industries bases. They provide innumerable benefits like employment. It will help unemployment in the agricultural sectors. It also helps develop infrastructure and also helps to develop the nation.