Sustainable land management is a complex process which calls for a holistic approach. An interdisciplinary and inter-institutional coordination mechanism is a must but is lacking and/or ineffective at present. In order to reverse land degradation processes, we require appropriate incentives and actions to change the behavior of the land users.

Farmers in Nepal are mainly involved in subsistence production for maintaining both economic and social demands. Limited food grains and livestock are sold for cash income. Off-farm income opportunities are limited. Therefore, all household members are involved in farming activities.

Although land reform has been a priority area of the government, land use planning has always remained under the shadow of revenue collection and land distribution.

Availability of good quality seeds is a prerequisite to increase crop production. But seed supply system of Nepal is not reliable and farmers have always complained about unavailability of quality seeds.

Nepal has no option other than to increase productivity of small farms. Land policies should also give a significant support to small family farms.

Nepal needs to explore both short-term and long-term solutions to mitigate fertilizer shortage that has hindered the country’s agriculture productions for years.

Post COVID-19, agriculture should be tailored to create more employment particularly more decent green jobs across the entire food production system.

Digitalization will be a sustainable solution for agriculture development in the years to come.

Although the modern production system has been found to solve food problem, it has created many other problems. The haphazard use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides has resulted in deleterious effects on the human health causing immune-suppression, skin cancer, hormone disruption, reproductive abnormalities, birth defects and liver and kidney problems.

As per the existing Narcotic Drugs (Control) Act 1976, production, sale, and consumption of marijuana is banned in Nepal. Marijuana is defined as psychoactive drug made from the dried leaves and flowers of the Cannabis plant. Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants in the family of Cannabaceae. The genus is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from Central Asia.

Recently, Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development Ghanashayam Bhsual said that agriculture sector has been deliberately ruined in the last 30-40 years. Ruin means collapse or complete destruction. Is there complete destruction of our agriculture system? Or has Nepali agriculture collapsed? If so, agriculture in Nepal would have been non-functional by now.

There is no doubt that COVID-19 will result in mass unemployment in non-agricultural sectors. This could bring a vast majority of youths back into agriculture sector.

The government has allocated Rs 41.4 billion for the agriculture sector in this year’s budget. Many had high expectations that the new budget would be a dramatic departure from the past and make bold decisions to allocate more budget in agriculture. However, the share of agriculture budget to the total budget stands at 2.8 percent. Furthermore, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MOALD) is receiving only Rs 37.40 billion to conduct agriculture-related programs. Compared to the ambitious programs that the government has put forth, the amount is far less to meet the necessary expenses. Of the budget, Rs 2.62 billion will go to provinces, Rs 5.44 billion will go to local governments and Rs 4 billion has been separated under the heading of the financial management of the loan that the World Bank and International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) will be providing for the country’s farming sector. Rs 11 billion has been set aside for the subsidy in fertilizers.

Agriculture in Nepal has slow growth over a protracted period despite a number of policies and strategic approaches being followed in the past. The Agriculture Perspective Plan (APP), unveiled in 1995 with a 20‐year vision, adopted a Green Revolution‐type approach based on massive investments on key inputs such as irrigation, fertilizers and rural roads to be focused on high potential areas. Based on it, the Government of Nepal (GoN) has formulated several broader policy frameworks since then. Of these, Agriculture Development Strategy (ADS) and National Agriculture Policy 2061 (NAP 2004) remain main policy documents to date. All these policies are judged to be sound in design but have suffered greatly in implementation. In many cases, they lacked the supporting legislation and resources for implementation.

Although the COVID-2019 epidemic is primarily a public health crisis, its impact on other sectors including the agriculture supply chain has started to be visible. The outbreak has already caused significant economic disruption around the world and is likely to continue to do so for some length of time. Regarding agriculture, it has an effect on both the supply-side and the demand side. Restrictions on the movement of goods and people have significant socio-economic repercussions on people's livelihoods. They often lead to disruption of market chains and trade of agricultural products, with significant potential impacts on the populations that depend on them for their livelihoods and their food and nutrition security. Supply chain management (SCM) in agriculture implies managing the relationships between the businesses responsible for the efficient production and supply of products from the farm level to the consumers.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic is primarily a public health crisis, experts are now voicing their concerns that the virus could have a much broader impact on the global economy. The UN's trade and development agency says the slowdown caused by the coronavirus outbreak could cost the global economy up to two trillion dollars this year. It will certainly impact agriculture as well. Some agriculture experts and entrepreneurs have made some observations that social distancing, reduced social and religious functions, minimizing travel, avoiding crowds, closures, and other protective practices will have impact on markets and prices of food items, dairy products, meat, flowers, and ornamental plants. There is a supply chain slowdown affecting the transportation of fertilizer, fuel, and other production inputs.

Agronomy, livestock and horticulture are the three major sub-sectors of agriculture. If we review past developmental efforts of Nepali agriculture, we find that agronomy (a branch of agriculture dealing with field-crop production)   was on the top priority in terms of public sector investment and human resource development followed by livestock.

Importing fruit plants for commercial production should not be encouraged because our quarantine and monitoring systems are weak

The challenges facing soil-based agriculture led to the invention of soilless agriculture. Soilless cultivation has become possible through the use of hi-tech

Nepalis celebrate Maghe Sakranti (first day of Magh) by consuming different tuber crops mainly yam and sweet potato. They did so this year too. Normally, people boil the yams in the evening of the last day of Poush and relish them the next morning with ghee and chaku. Generally, sesame seed Laddus, molasses, ghee, sweet potatoes and yam are included in the menu. It is widely believed that the boiled yams taken on the morning of Maghe Sakranti staves off cold-related ailments. People in Kathmandu also celebrate this festival with delicacies made from yam, ghee and chaku. That is why mountains of yams are seen in Kalimati and Balkhu wholesale markets every year during Maghe Sakranti. It has also a cultural and religious importance in Nepali society.