A New Blueprint for Farming

The government introduced the National Agriculture Policy 2083 BS last week, replacing the 22-year-old National Agriculture Policy 2061 BS. Designed to make the agrarian sector modern, commercial, competitive, and self-reliant, the framework prioritizes food security, food sovereignty, higher farmer incomes, expanded domestic yield, import substitution, and export promotion. This policy arrives as Nepal's agricultural sector contends with chronic structural crises. Once the primary engine of the economy, agriculture's contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) has plummeted. Although most citizens still rely on farming, traditional production methods, low productivity, volatile markets, and poor returns prevent it from becoming a lucrative career. The consequences are starkly visible in rural youth migration. Working-age Nepalis continue to leave the country in droves for foreign employment, leaving vast swaths of arable land fallow. While remittance inflows sustain household consumption, they fail to revitalize local farming. Consequently, Nepal relies heavily on imports for basic agricultural commodities, including rice, vegetables, and fruits. Against this backdrop, the strategic goals of the new policy are encouraging. To curb land fragmentation, the policy seeks to protect approximately two million hectares of active farmland. It also mandates land consolidation, the cultivation of fallow plots, and the expansion of collective, contract, and cooperative farming.