The most critical and pressing problem of Nepal at present is youth unemployment, leading to, up until now, over four million out-migration for employment. This is the case despite the fact that the country has enough resources to engage millions of youth in various productive sectors, and thereby contribute to rapid economic growth. But because of the lack of visionary leaders, the country's resources remain unexploited for the benefit of its people, and Nepal continues to be one of the poorest countries in the world.In this context, Naya Shakti aims to create economic opportunities for the youth by adding over four million jobs in next 10-15 years, providing productive employment to youth in various sectors and making Nepal a middle income country by the end of that period. The creation of these jobs will be through harnessing our abundant resources, with the ultimate aim of improving the livelihoods of common people and contributing to rapid economic growth.
Some examples of the resources taken into account are: giant snow-fed rivers capable of generating thousands of megawatts of electricity and of irrigating millions of hectares of agricultural land in Tarai plains, so as to boost crop productivity and production; diverse agro-climatic conditions suitable for growing best quality organic coffee, tea, fruits and vegetables, and medicinal and aromatic plants; and loving and hospitable people who have diverse settlements, socio-cultural values, festivals and exotic dresses who will attract millions of tourists.
Modernization of our cooperatives is one of the ways to achieve all these goals. Modernized cooperatives can boost agricultural productivity and production, making the country self-sufficient in food and provide job opportunities to millions of youth. Hence Naya Shakti aims to redesign our cooperatives. The cooperative sector, we believe, can generate around two million jobs in 10-15 years and help make the country self-sufficient in food. It thus also contributes to rapid economy development.
Naya Shakti has the vision, strategy and operational plans to modernize, commercialize and diversify agriculture, livestock and non-timber forest products (NTFPs) through the development of inclusive and business-oriented cooperatives. Modern technology will be introduced to increase crop productivity and production. We will also boost household-level agro-businesses and micro-enterprises. Every household will be one enterprise. Their diversified products will be commercialised through value additions linked to both domestic and export markets.
Presently, there are around 33,000 cooperatives in Nepal, and most of them are performing poorly. There are hundreds of complaints lodged against cooperative finance institutions. While in many other parts of the world cooperatives are generating millions of jobs and revenues, in Nepal their condition is deteriorating and they have to seek financial assistance from the government.
A recent ILO report says, "Cooperatives employ at least 100 million people worldwide, and the livelihoods of nearly half the world's population have been estimated as made secure by cooperative enterprise. The world's largest co-operative enterprises have collective revenues of USD 1.6 trillion, which are comparable to the GDP of the world's ninth largest economy—Spain".
The main reasons for the failure of cooperatives in Nepal are incompetent management (managerial skills and competency), political interference, bad governance and lack of transparency and accountability. The majority of the cooperatives are run by unqualified party cadres and they are not inclusive and participatory in decision making; and most decisions are made for the interest of a few influential cooperative members in the board. These problems are further compounded by vague laws, rules and regulations.
Therefore Naya Shakti aims to redesign and modernize our cooperatives, making them inclusive, participatory, transparent and accountable. We hope to run them like businesses. We will also ensure representation of women, poor farmers from various ethnic and marginalized groups and dalits in decision-making and management committee/board. Naya Shakti also envisages strong laws to ensure the security of investment of cooperative members. Again, it aims to make them business-like, creating jobs, ensuring profitability of enterprises so that they can provide tangible benefits to their members in terms of improved household economy and self-employment.
There are many ways of expanding cooperative businesses. One of the ways is through the development of niche agro-businesses, developing products of comparative advantages in each of the federal provinces. Such products of comparative advantages may include NTFPs, medicinal plant and herbs, organic ginger and cardamom, organic fruits and vegetables, organic animal meat, pashmina, yak cheese, organic coffee and tea, and many more. We will add value through processing, packaging, branding with property right and by linking them to both domestic and export markets.
Ensuring profitable price and markets to farmer producers through forward contracting, connecting to both domestic and export markets, use of best information technology are some of the practices Naya Shakti plans to introduce in cooperatives. We will look to provide insurance to high value crops and animals; mobile services to farmers on door-to-door basis; and health insurance to every cooperative member. Exploring export potential, seeking the assistance of WTO for development of export markets, and connecting with multi-national companies are some other strategy that can enhance the role of the cooperatives in the national economy.
The cooperatives can also play a critical role in the development of water resources, agro-tourism, home-stay tourism, and construction of infrastructures like access roads, hydro plants, solar and wind energy plants, and other connectivity and information highways, thereby creating many job opportunities.
The cooperatives should be made service-oriented, with efficient service delivery to farmers and entrepreneurs their main goal. This can be done through timely supply of inputs like quality seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, machineries as well as credit. Connecting farmers to input supply agents for timely availability of required inputs, and connecting them to financial institutions for credit will be other important functions of cooperatives.
Under the visionary and dynamic leadership of Naya Shakti Nepal, the cooperatives will be reshaped and modernized into vital economical institutions. These institutions, in turn, will contribute to make Nepal a middle-income, poverty-free country 10 to 15 years from now. In this Nepal of tomorrow, each and every youth will have a productive job and will contribute to the prosperity of their homeland.
The author is the Coordinator of Cooperative and Self-employment Department, Naya Shakti Nepal. He has PhD in Agricultural Economics from Cornell University, US
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