Enterprising agriculture in Nepal: Essential yet challenging thanks to sluggish government

Before the 1990s, Nepal’s main economic activity was agriculture. From mid of the 1990s, and more intensively from the 2000s, the livelihood options changed unexpectedly. Most of the educated youth migrated abroad for better employment opportunities than engaging in agriculture in Nepal.

The influx of remittance sent by migrant labourers vitalised the urban economy creating additional employment opportunities. As a result, most of the rural population migrated to urban areas.