Parmeshwar Devkota

Nepal government has decided to allow foreign investment in the agriculture sector. According to the decision, the foreign investment will be allowed in the field of animal husbandry, fishery, apiary, fruit and vegetable production. The other areas of foreign investment include oil, pulses and milk production.
But, the new policy decision has been challenged by the farmers involved in the aforementioned sectors. The Dairy Production Federation Nepal, the Dairy Association, the Central Animal Husbandry Cooperative Federation Limited, Nepal Fishery Federation, among others, have voiced against the government’s decision saying that they themselves are capable of producing enough stuffs to meet the domestic demand.
Their logic is that they have already invested Rs. 85 billion in afforested sector industries. Such industries have been employing about 1.5 million Nepalis. If the foreign investors are allowed to investment in these sectors, the local investors are sure to go bankrupt. This will force the industrialists to lose their investments and some 1-1.5 million people will become jobless.
If the consumers do not go into the depth of the problems that they have been facing since long, the claim of Nepali entrepreneurs seems logical. But, this logic also stands on shaky ground, if we go through the woes of local agro entrepreneurs. As for example, Laxman Shrestha, a local farmer of Chunikhel in Budhanilkhantha Municipality, Kathmandu, wanted to turn his more than 30 ropanis of paddy field into a kiwi farm.
Shrestha went to the Horticulture Centre in Kirtipur when the organisation solicited applications for kiwi saplings in Asoj (September-October) last year. He sought 400 kiwi saplings. He was told that he would get the saplings in January. One early noon of January, he was invited to take only 20 saplings. The Centre said that it could not get the saplings in sufficient quantity. When Shrestha asked the officer from where he could get additional saplings, the latter enthusiastically gave a contact phone number of a private nursery farm. As Shrestha contacted the private nursery and enquired about the price of a kiwi sapling, it was an utter surprise for him to know that it was 300 times expensive.
It was apparent that the officer and the nursery owner had a nefarious nexus. Such a malfeasance can lead to the hoarding of saplings and increase in their prices exorbitantly. It was the reason why Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development Padma Kumari Aryal challenged the industrialists by saying, “Farmers have been given assurances to sell their products. But as their products come, the big firms shy away from buying the same, forcing farmers to stock up on their products.”
As Minister Aryal said rightly that if the foreign investment is allowed in the aforesaid sectors, farmers would have options and consumers would be able to select good products. Today, Nepali consumers are the victims of hoarding because of lack of competition. If another private sector emerges, it will generate a pace in the production and distribution which will ultimately be beneficial for the producers and consumers alike.