BHERIGANGA, SURKHET, March 9: The Karnali province government has initiated a campaign aimed at discouraging the use of pesticides in farming.

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.

Rural development policies should exploit the contribution of farming, both in terms of improving on-farm activities and supporting ancillary services, to secure sustainable development for rural areas.

Though Nepal is an agricultural country, where agriculture is the main source of income, our agricultural products are not even enough for the local population. More than 70 percent of people in Nepal depend on agriculture, primarily for their livelihood.

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.

BHAIRAHAWA, Jan 7: Rohit Kumar Pasi, 37, from Siyari Rural Municipality-4 spends most of time at farm taking care of bananas. When he shifted to banana farming from vegetables last year, he was not sure if it was worthwhile. But even within a year, he finds it more profitable than vegetable farming.

BANKE, Dec 8: “There is no loss in the occupation of agriculture. It may not give you big money, but there is no loss," is what Lal Bahadur Khatri, a farmer based in Khajura in Banke, thinks.

CHITWAN, Oct 16: For poultry farmers and traders, properly disposing chicken droppings has always been a major challenge. For those who have invested huge amounts in chicken farming, this may become a really big problem.

Digitalizing farming process by providing farmers access to the internet can help solve most of the problems facing Nepali farmers, including improving competitiveness in farming

Many family farmers in developing countries live in poverty and many go hungry themselves. This is unacceptable, for them and for our collective future

JUMLA, May 11: It has not been very long since Samjhana Devkota of Talichaur village started vegetable farming. Just like other village folks, she was accustomed to growing only crops in her field before.

DHADING, April 22: Ram Sharan Tripathi of Siddhalek Rural Municipality Ward-4 in Dhading has been involved in farming for the past 25 years. Farmers like him had to wait for their turn to use oxen for plowing as there were limited number of oxen in the village. He has now bought a mini tiller which has made things lot easier for him.

BAJHANG, April 7: Debu Khadka of Chainpur-10 remains busy working on her farm from dawn to dusk. However, she hardly feels tired. “When you love your work, you don’t feel tired no matter how much you work. I love farming,” she beams.

JUMLA, March 5:  Bhadri Sarki used to walk for more than an hour to fetch enough water to irrigate just one apple tree.

KATHMANDU, Feb 27: When the news of a farmer named Puran Mahato from Chitwan destroying a ton of cabbage after failing to get more than two rupees per kg was making rounds last month, Nepali students studying agriculture in Israel were shattered. “Is agriculture really a dying industry in Nepal?” they wondered.

KATHMANDU, Jan 20: The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development is all set to implement Riverbed/River Bank Farming Program from the current Fiscal Year 2018/19.

KATHMANDU, Oct 22: The National Farmer’s Commission has urged the government to fix the ‘consent price’ of major crops as rice, maize, wheat, millet, buck wheat, sugarcane, among others.

AANGNA, Oct 10:  Ravi Ale has worked the family’s two hectares of land in eastern Nepal since he was old enough to help his father. But after a lean harvest this year, and with his cash running out, he will leave next month to look for work in India, along with five of his friends in the village.

RATNANAGAR, Aug 18: The Ratnanagar municipality has begun penalizing land owners who leave their agricultural land arid.

LALITPUR, Aug 8: Khokana is one of the ancient habitats of the district. The 13th-century old village is popular for mustard oil.

DAMAK, July 25: With price of green tea declining rapidly, many farmers of the district have decided to get rid of tea bushes and cultivate new crop. For this, they have decided to give green leaves as a bonus to laborers who pluck leaves for them.

DHADING, May 29: Narshingh Tamang of Khaniyabas Rural Municipality-2 has grown cardamom saplings all over his fields. In fact, this has been a reliable source of income for his family. According to Tamang, the farming of this cash crop requires sloppy and humid land.

JUMLA, May 26: With a sudden increase in the number of schools in Jumla, the trend of hiring private teachers has also grown. However, as the schools are not in a position to pay salary of the teachers on their own, they urge for help from the guardians.

MAKALU, May 16: Farmers of Shankhuwasabha are getting united for the development of cardamom farming. Farmers have rolled up their sleeves by forming a 25-member cardamom farmers committee to excel in the black gold farming in Makalu rural municipality-3 of late.

MAHOTTARI, May 15: Province no 2 Minister for Agriculture, Shailendra Sah, has called for tapping into the organic agricultural technology for the development of the agricultural sector.

SOLUKHUMBU, May 7: Three districts of Sagarmatha Zone -- Solukhumbu, Okhaldhunga, and Khotang -- have been found suitable for tea and coffee farming.

JUMLA, April 21: Narayan Chaulagain, a local of Chandannath Municipality-4 in Jumla, has started commercial farming of turkey and laukat, an Australian bird. The two birds of foreign species are used for meat and eggs.

NEPALGUNJ, April 17: A large number of farmers in the villages around Nepalgunj are overjoyed with their new-found love. They have switched to herbs farming. And this has brought significant change in their lives.

KHOTANG, April 17: At a time when thousands of people from the rural areas are opting for foreign employment due to the lack of job opportunities in the country, Durga Basnet of Majuwaghadi Municipality-4 in Khotang district has set a different example through her success in vegetable farming.

The earth, home to about 8.7 million different species of living creatures and provider of factors such as air, water and soil that keep these species alive, is under crisis.

Existing provision of land- ownership and land management has rather encouraged landowners to leave their land uncultivated

MANANG, Feb 28: At a time when hundreds of Nepali youths are leaving the country for foreign employment on a daily basis, 32-year-old Kanchha Gurung of Nesyang Rural Municipality-6 of the district finds his future in yak farming.

MYAGDI, Jan 31: There used to be a jungle where now lies a farm. The locals have started potato farming inside Daduwa Community Forest of Myagdi after realizing that they could use the plain areas of the forest for farming.

DOPLA, Jan 29: A group of nine local political leaders of Dolpa are currently in Nasik of India to study grape farming.

JHAPA, Jan 16: Many small-scale tea farmers of Jhapa are leaving the profession due to rising cost of production, a decline in the price of green leaves, and frequent pest attack in a tea garden, among other reasons.

JUMLA, Dec 29: A farmer from Chandan Nath Municipality of Jumla, Til Bahadur Giri, had set up a cow farming industry in collaboration with few other people six years ago. But his hopes of earning a handsome share of money from the business have gone in vain.

CHITWAN, Dec 23: Hari Prasad Neupane of Rajhar Ward 13 of Debchuli Municipality-Nawalpur used to keep a sizeable herd of cows at his farm. Also a known politician in the area, Neupane wanted to earn money through cow farming. But instead of making profits, he made losses.

KATHMANDU, Dec 3: The election campaign was a proof to show the extent leaders went to lure voters. From milking a cow to bowing down on a woman’s feet, candidates applied everything at their disposal.

For a farmer, who has been doing a substantial farming and animal husbandry, the concept of kiwi fruit farming (a Chinese Gooseberry) would be a new phenomenon in Nepal. This fruit is known to most Nepalis, but the prospects of a better earning are higher from kiwi fruit farming.  This fruit is cultivable from the elevation of 1,000 to 2,500 meters from the sea level. It can be consumed as a fresh fruit, in the form of juice, jam, and wine. Among Soyou, Monty, Tomuri, Abbott, Hayward, and Bruno, Hayward kiwi fruit is popular among Nepali farmers.

UDAYAPUR, Nov 17: As the upcoming elections have fallen in the harvesting season, farmers are more worried about harvesting their crops than listening to the exaggerated promises of candidates and casting votes for them.

PARBAT, Nov 6: Cow farming is working wonders for a local representative here. Subash Chandra Paudel, chairperson to Ward no 7 of the Kushma Municipality, performs his duties at the ward office during office hours and spends rest of time in his cow farm.

PARBAT, Oct 16: By putting aside all other professions, locals of Mahashila Rural Municipality ward no 5 of Kahule in Parbat district have engaged themselves in vegetable farming which has proved to be a major source of income for many.

ITAHARI, Oct 11: Narayan Mahat, 59, wakes up at 3 am every morning. Gets ready in half an hour, packs up the vegetable stock readied before sleeping and rushes to the market to sell it off. He has been doing this for years.

CHITWAN, August 17: Incessant rainfall in the southern part of Nepal has badly affected fish, banana and poultry farming in Chitwan. Places famous for banana and fish farming such as Khairahani, Kumroj, Pithuwa, Ratnanagar, Jagatpur and Meghauli, among others, have been inundated due to continuous heavy rainfall.

PARBAT, Aug 7: Nar Bahadur Paija of Baskharka, Parbat district, spent his five precious years in Malaysia and Qatar as a laborer. Unable to make enough money, he returned to the country and started orange farming. Now, he is earning more than Rs 700,000 every year. He has around 200 orange trees in his field.

ILAM, August 7: Though contract farming is beneficial for both farmers and businessmen, experts say it is not flourishing in the lack of rules, regulations and laws.

SYANGJA, August 6: Swine flu rumors have affected pig farming in Waling of Syangja.  Many shops selling pork have shut down, while trade of pigs and piglets has come to a halt.

GINGER FARMING IN NEPAL IN FY 2015/16

BAITADI, July 11: Farmers of Surnaya Rural Municipality in Baitadi have started commercial goat farming. Each family in Surnaya-6 has 10 to 30 goats in their pen.

BAITADI, July 11: Farmers of Surnaya Rural Municipality in Baitadi have started commercial goat farming. Each family in Surnaya-6 has 10 to 30 goats in their pen.