However, agriculture which is the mainstay of national economy would potentially serve as employment generating sector if the policy makers come up with a concrete plan to expand and promote its commercialization. Nepal’s poultry sector is one of the glaring examples of how agriculture can be commercialized and modernized at par with the international standard, thereby generating thousands of employment opportunities. Since the early 1990s, Rs 16 billion has been invested in this sector. Chitwan, a district once famous for its mustard farming, is now known as the “Poultry Capital’, thanks to massive investment in poultry farming. Impressive involvement of experts of animal science, who are mostly the products of Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science (IAAS) in Chitwan, has contributed to the commercialization of this sector.
This ever expanding sector has not only provided employment to over 70,000 youths, more importantly, it has made us sufficient in poultry products. The growth of poultry sector has also resulted in many farmers growing maize—a major ingredient for chicken feeds. Farmers are now offered a lucrative price for maize.
Success of poultry farming in Chitwan has been replicated in other districts as well and is drawing unemployed youths into this sector. With the commercialization of poultry, consumption of chicken and eggs has also gone up, albeit meagerly, compared to other countries.
So, poultry can be an inspiring example for the government who is still confused as to how to generate the set target as specified in the 3-year plan. Despite the absence of government policies and incentives, poultry sector has developed to the extent of making Nepal self-sufficient in poultry, in a very short span of time. Other areas which are emerging as viable for commercialization are beekeeping, vegetable farming, milk production and some high value crops, and have high potentials to generate employment opportunities. We have hundreds of examples of farmers earning far better from vegetable farming, beekeeping, cattle farming and production of high-value products than our unskilled workers abroad. Gradual generation of employment in these sectors is possible through massive commercialization.
Given uncertain markets, low productivity and government apathy in agriculture sector which holds more than one-third of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP), retaining and attracting the youths in this sector is definitely not easy.
Merely making huge investment is not sufficient for the success of commercialization of agriculture. Alongside investment, there must be a government policy to provide technical support. Also there has to be a policy to lure educated youths with vocational knowledge so that their expertise can be better utilized to increase both profit and productivity.
We can use the technical manpower produced in the IAAS for the growth of agriculture sector by providing them incentives such as easy loan without interest for certain period so that they don’t have to worry about the investment capital to start their agro-businesses. Some youths, returned recently after working in agriculture farms in Israel had approached the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, (MoAC) for financial support to invest in agriculture. However, to their frustration MoAC returned them empty handed.
Though the MoAC has proposed Rs 100 million in the upcoming budget to subsidize interest on loans over Rs 2.5 million to encourage youths in agriculture sector, it is insufficient given the rapidly growing number of unemployed youths in the country. According to Nepal Labor Survey 2008—the first ever comprehensive labor census—youths unemployment has increased to 2.1 percent from 1.8 percent in the last nine years. The survey further shows that 30 percent of the total population aged 15 and above are underutilized.
The government has to be more serious about the growing trend of youths leaving rural areas to urban centers or overseas in search of greener pasture. The rising exodus of youths from villages has not only posed threat to worsening food security due to scarcity of workforce in agriculture, but also has caused rapid urbanization in the Tarai, especially in the districts that are important for agriculture. Such uncontrolled migration from remote areas to the cities in Tarai, capital and abroad is going to further mount the dependency on food. On the other hand, rapid urbanization in key agriculture districts would lead to fall in agro production.
Therefore, it is high time the government come up with a workable plan to commercialize agriculture. An aggressive campaign to lure youths into agriculture and incentive packages and commercialization planning to lessen the burden of thousands of unemployed youths each year, has to start now. Given the limited resources of the state, the government can utilize remittance which amounts to more than Rs 200 billion every year, to invest in agriculture by involving maximum number of agriculture graduates. Increasing involvement of rural youths through incentives in commercial agriculture would prevent steaming of youths from rural areas besides improving food security in remote areas. Similarly, the government can hire many retired agriculture experts whose knowledge and experience are going to waste in the absence of opportunities. Even workers returning from abroad, can be mobilized in agriculture sector. Their presence in rural areas can lessen the influx of unemployed youths in cities, which not only helps in solving many problems in the cities, but also, result in self-sufficiency in food products.
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