Statistics shows only around 10 percent of applicants have received grants so far. Though 308 farmers had applied for grants in commercial vegetables farming, only 60 of them received the grant from District Agricultural Development Office. Similarly out of 56 who had applied for grant for mushroom framing, only 20 received the grant. Only four farmers have received grant for fisheries and another seven for livestock farming. A total of farmers had applied for grant for fisheries, while 59 had sought grant for livestock farming.
This shows that the grant announced by government is too little to reach small farmers. "Demand for grant from farmers is very high," Tirtha Kumar Shrestha, senior agriculture development officer said, adding, "But we have resources to provide grant to only around 10 percent of the applicants."
Shrestha also said budget allocated for the program is insufficient. "We get low budgetary allocation. That too is distributed into different headings. It is making us difficult to allocate grants to farmers," added Shrestha.
Meanwhile, small farmers say they do not have access to such grant. "Farmers who are close to officials of District Agricultural Development Office and District Livestock Offices are benefiting from the program. Small farmers do not have access to such program," Rim Prasad Kaapre, a local farmer, said. "Such grants come through cooperatives which have political interests."
Som Raj Panta, a livestock technician said, they were finding it difficult to distribute grants as the budget allocated for the purpose is not sufficient.
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