Agro Grants not going to genuine farmers

Kathmandu: Parliamentarians have suggested stopping giving grants from the state coffers with the intention of benefiting individuals in the name of farmers.

At a meeting of the Delegated Management and Government Assurance Committee on Friday, committee member Hariram Chaudhary suggested postponing the agriculture subsidy program as the state coffers were misappropriated in the name of subsidy. “Real farmers do not know about subsidy. Farmers do not need subsidy, they need a discount on the purchase of fertilizer, seeds and tools”, he said.

Committee member Radheshyam Adhikari suggested that it is necessary to reconsider the distribution of grants as it has not reached the target group. MP Sher Bahadur Kunwar pointed out the need for comprehensive reforms in the current grant distribution system as those who play with the soil are not benefitting from it. Likewise, Dr Khim Lal Devkota, a member of the committee, said that direct benefit to the farmers has never been heard of. “Agriculture subsidy has been distributed on the basis of bargaining and transactions.

The distribution of subsidies is chaotic. Committee Chair Ram Narayan Bidari gave an example of an incident where an employee had to go to jail for corruption due to non-compliance with the law. “Laws are made by the parliament but required directives and procedures have not been made by the ministry to the benefit of some individuals.” At the meeting, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Sabnam Siwakoti shared that subsidy has been provided to farmers for chemical fertilizers and agricultural tools to reduce production costs.

The effort is also being done to identify the right person for the grant. The committee members discussed with the officials of the ministry about the Agriculture Act, agricultural subsidy and the status of implementation of the directives given by the committee. –––