Agriculture technology
Since throwing its doors to foreigners in 1951, Nepal has been receiving significant financial help for development works. Such aid is in the form of either grant or loan. However, with such easy money, we have also become very dependent on outsiders. Today, foreign aid covers over one-fourth of our budget expenditure, thereby substantially weakening our internal capacities.
Prominent socio-economists like Devendra Raj Pandey strongly oppose such donor-dependent development mentality, as it muddies our development goals and contributes to corruption and anarchy. In 2011 alone, Nepal received aid from 40 official donors to the tune of Rs 106 billion. Even such crucial bodies like PMO, Finance Ministry and National Planning Commission depend on this foreign aid.
A serious debate on the need for such aid must start now. Now is the time to assess various impacts of foreign aid, vis-à-vis our achievements and failures. Especially since even the top level ministry officers have expressed reservations with aid utilization. Yes, we have made some progress from foreign supported projects in the last two decades but there are bundles of disappointments as well.
Nepal undoubtedly needs foreign aid for its mega-projects. But our utter dependence has also made us thoroughly incompetent. Seldom do we initiate even small development works like the extension of ring road, building new bridges, or solid waste management in Kathmandu Valley on our own.
The problem with foreign aid is that a large portion is spent on allowances, foreign tours and miscellaneous expenditure for the relevant staff. This is the reason we find so many blue-plated luxury vehicles in the roads of Kathmandu. No wonder bureaucrats try so hard to be associated with such projects. These bureaucrats and ministers who are unreachable to general public are always eager to welcome every foreign diplomat in their chamber, even by going against the code of conduct.
In this context, a refreshing approach of the Israeli Embassy, especially its ambassador to Nepal, Hanan Goder, deserves our appreciation. Last year, the embassy provided agriculture training to 208 Nepali farmers in Israel and this year it is selecting 500 more for similar training. The selected are higher secondary graduates from farmer families. Sana Kishan Bikas Bank selected the candidates through a lottery: 500 from among 1,100 applicants from 21 districts. Those selected will again be trained on modern agriculture practices in Israel and on the ways to implement their skills in Nepal. Israeli monetary aid to Nepal is small, nonetheless such creative help can make a significant contribution to Nepal and is worth more than billions in aid.
Nepal is principally an agricultural country. Until a decade ago, 95 percent of the population depended on agriculture for livelihood; in 2011, the percentage has come down to 71 percent. This decline is largely because of declining productivity. Every day, around 2,000 youths leave the country for work abroad. This has created a vacuum in agriculture sector.
The occupational change has overturned the food balance. The country was once self-dependent in food and even exported rice, sugar and oilseed, but now it is at the mercy of imports. In 2013, we imported rice worth Rs 8 billion and green vegetables worth Rs 2 billion. Despite the fact that Nepal is blessed with natural resources, our inefficiency and negligence has made this potentially productive sector languish far behind. Our organic tea, high altitude coffee, rainbow trout, medicinal mushroom, high altitude cumin and saffron are just a few examples of our unmatched agriculture potential.
But sadly we still depend on rainwater (for irrigation), three-generation old obsolete harvest tools, and old seed. Our farmers are insecure from frequent crop failure. Nepal Agricultural Research Council is inactive. Different cartels have a stranglehold on the market and the government is unable to dismantle them. As a result, farmers are compelled to sell their products at the lowest possible price, whereas consumers have to pay a very high price for the same products.
Israel is about seven times smaller in area as compared to Nepal. It is mainly a desert. Soil quality is bad with scarce presence of water resources. The summer temperature goes up as high as 54 degree Celsius, making it semi-arid or desert climate. Despite such adverse conditions, Israel has conquered nature and turned challenges into opportunities through sheer hard work and big investment in research and development. Its per capita income of US $ 35,658 compares with the most advantaged nations in the world. It has boosted its agriculture with biotechnology that has made the country self-sufficient in food. Only three percent agriculture-based population produces food for 95 percent.
In Israel, our students will get valuable lessons in agriculture technology as well as water conservation, solar energy, communication and software technology. The lessons they get there will hopefully be helpful in reviving the moribund agriculture sector here.
