Govt fails to clear dues worth more than Rs 2.57 billion to milk and sugarcane producing farmers
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KATHMANDU, Aug 26 : Milk and sugarcane producing farmers are yet to receive more than Rs 2.57 billion from the government for their sold out products.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD), milk producing farmers have not received over Rs 1.27 billion from the government. Similarly, sugarcane producers have not been paid Rs 1.30 billion that they are supposed to receive in subsidies.
Speaking at a press meet on Sunday, Agriculture Minister Ram Nath Adhikari said the government has paid Rs 335.70 million dues of milk producers. Adhikari expressed his commitment that the government will clear the remaining dues of both the milk and sugarcane farmers before Dashain.
Adhikari said the MoALD will soon be disclosing the names of individuals who have been found misusing the agriculture grants provided by the government. According to him, the ministry has received wide complaints about misuse of the grant amount that was provided to boost agricultural produce in a number of segments.
Minister Adhikari reiterated the government’s plan to categorize farmers to give them the state provided facilities. Although the government announced its plan to distribute farmers’ identity cards based on their categorization in the past few years, it has not been materialized till date.
According to the MoALD, over 1.8 million farmers as of now have been enlisted in the Farmers Enlisting Program launched in 2020. The program aims to enlist at least 1.2 million farmers in the current fiscal year. “We will effectively make the agriculture grant facilities to enhance agriculture productivity by connecting it to enlisted farmers,” said Adhikari.
Meanwhile, the government has projected to receive 76,770 tons more yield of food grains including paddy, corn and wheat in the current fiscal year. The MoALD records show Nepal produced more than 10.96 million tons of these cereals in 2023/24, which is expected to increase to over 11.04 million tons in the current fiscal year.
According to the MoALD, paddy is estimated to yield 5.735 million tons from 5.724 million tons. Likewise, corn production is projected to reach 3.095 million tons from 3.089 million tons and wheat production is projected to reach 2.215 million tons from 2.155 million tons.
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