Paddy production expected to go down

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KATHMANDU, Dec 18 : Plagued by the delayed arrival of the monsoon, particularly in the Western and Far Western Development Region, normally high paddy producing areas, the overall national paddy production for the current fiscal year is likely to go down by 1.04 per cent.

According to preliminary agriculture production estimates issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operative for the current fiscal year, the overall paddy production, which commands over 55 per cent of the total national cereal production, is likely to slip to 4.12 million tons.

The aggregate national paddy production during the last fiscal year was 4.17 million tons whereas the production during the previous year was 4.22 million tons. Apart from shrinkage in paddy production, the most worrisome fact is that the area under paddy cultivation in most of the development regions has declined.

However, according to the ministry, despite the decline, the remarkable increment of 57,000 hectare of paddy land alone in the Eastern Development Region played a crucial role in supporting the total national paddy land by 28,000 hectare.

However, despite the increment in per hectare productivity of paddy in the Eastern Development Region, the heavy decline in productivity in other development regions dragged down the whole national paddy productivity.

According to quick estimates, the average per hectare productivity of paddy has gone down to 2.668 tons whereas it was 2.745 tons last year and 2.703 tons during the previous year. Unfavourable weather conditions in most parts of the country, except in the Eastern Development Region, is the main factor for the decline in productivity, states a release issued here today by the ministry.

Despite the fall in the production of the main monsoon crop, the production of maize, the second largest cereal production of the country, is estimated to surge by 3.9 per cent compared to last year. The production of maize, during the current fiscal year, is expected to touch 1.57 million tons whereas such production last year was 1.51 million tons.

Like production, the area under maize cultivation has also gone up by 1.24 per cent and has touched 836,000 hectare from last year’s 826,000 hectare. The surge in maize cultivation areas in most of the development regions, except in the hilly areas of Western Development Region, largely helped in increasing the total area.

Similarly, the production of millet, during the current fiscal year, is estimated to stand at almost same level of last year. However, the area under millet cultivation has registered a marginal increment of 0.4 per cent while the productivity of millet has gone down by 0.2 per cent.

Though the ministry has blamed floods, landslides in the Central Development Region and drought in the Mid-Western and Far Western Development Regions for the decline of areas, concerned experts claim that huge migration of the local people due to escalation of violence, is the key factor behind the squeeze.

‘Expedite economic diplomacy’

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KATHMANDU, Dec 18 : "The government must expedite the new concept of economic diplomacy into immediate actions in order to restrict the present downtrend of economy of the country" said several government officials and leading industrialists at an interaction today.

In the wide range of discussion on preparedness of the country towards initiating economic diplomatic policy, these experts also pointed out the need to expertise our appointed envoys on business deals.

"Our major charming business including that of tourism, carpets, garments can regain their spot in the international market if we collectively work for the success of economic diplomacy," experts said.

The experts were speaking at an interaction programme on "Economic Diplomacy" organised by Nepal Chamber of Commerce following the recent formation of economic diplomacy committee by the government.

The government has recently formed "Economic Diplomacy Committee" under the chairmanship of prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand with the aim to provoke the downtrend trade and business of the country, mainly through export business.

Going by the slump global economy and escalating domestic violence, almost every exportable commodity has recorded a decline in their export, including garments and carpets. Besides, the foreign direct investment also has recorded a decline of around 6 per cent during the last fiscal year. Along with this, the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country registered negative growth for the first time in two decades.

However, the government officials have stressed that the success of the recently unleashed policy largely depends on the role of the private sector. "The government can only play a role of catalyst on materialising this policy into actions," said Madhu Raman Acharya, secretary of Ministry of Finance.

Referring to the present gloomy trade and business scenario of the country, Acharya pointed out the need of a broader active role from the private sector to achieve the ultimate objective of the policy. "The private sector should play a lead role to produce the expected outcome through the implementation of this policy," he remarked.

"As we are on the verge of WTO accession, this is the right time to discuss on strengthening our business through economic diplomacy," he urged. Meanwhile, he also expressed his disappointment on the failure of private sector to grab the opportunity of increasing export at a time, when Australia and Canada have decided to allow duty free access to Nepali goods.

Lava Kumar Devkota, secretary in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies during the programme, expressed similar comments. "No matter what efforts the government puts on, to achieve success through diplomacy policy, it is impossible if private sector themselves do not develop as the professional and organised source of products," he remarked.

However, several former ambassadors pointed out to improve one largely ignored part if the government really thinks for the proper mechanism of the policy. "The government needs to train and provide orientation of business to its envoys before they are actually deployed to foreign countries," said Khilendra Prasad Pandey, former Nepali ambassador to Thailand. Sharing his bitter experience during his tenure, he claimed that their responsibility was almost limited to guide the touring ministers and Member of Parliament, who were visiting foreign countries.

Also Yuba Raj Singh Pradhan and Brijesh Man Singh, both former envoys pointed out the need to establish "Economic Cell" within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "The direct communication of the deployed ambassadors with the ministry can further help to materialise the policies into actions," Singh stated.

The participating industrialists however demanded strong support from the government for the success of the economic diplomacy. "The government needs to be sincere to stimulate downtrend business through the regular exercise of this policy," said Rajesh Kaji Shrestha, President of Nepal Chamber of Commerce.

Meanwhile, Acharya made clear that the economic diplomacy policy itself was not an independent policy but was the integral part of the foreign policy. "The success of this policy largely depends on how you represent your trade potential in foreign countries," he added.

NOC essays to reduce adulteration

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KATHMANDU, Dec 18 : In an effort to curtail the rampant adulteration of petroleum products, Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) today decided to separate the sales of kerosene from petrol and diesel from a single petrol pump. Going by the latest decision, the new dealers that the NOC would appoint henceforth would be allowed to sell diesel and petrol or kerosene only.

As of the existing petrol pumps dealing with all three major petroleum products, necessary arrangements for separating the sales of kerosene and other two products would be taken after discussing the matter with the Nepal Petroleum Dealers Association, states a press release.

Also the NOC has adopted a new policy of not appointing new dealers within a distance of 1 km in cities and extending its supply network of dealers in Hills and Mountain districts having motor linkage.

2PM noodle launched

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KATHMANDU, Dec 18 : Asian Thai Foods Private Limited, one of the biggest manufacturers of the instant noodles in Nepal, launched 2PM, an instant noodle in the selected cities including Kathmandu amid a function today.

The newly launched 100-gram ready-to-eat noodle 2PM comes in a metallic wrapper with four seasonings instead of the regular three seasonings.

In order to facilitate the consumers, the Asian Thai Foods is shortly introducing the 2PM noodles in disposable hygienic cup that includes a fork, said Mahesh Juju, Managing Director of the company during a press meet today.

Besides, the new product is reasonably priced at Rs 12 as the regular instant noodles of 75 grams cost Rs 11 per packet, he said. The new product promoted as "Hunger….No longer" can also be ordered online.

According to the company, Asian Thai Foods is the first Nepali noodle manufacturer to own an ISO 9001: 2000 certification, which also produces Rumpum, Phuchche, Lotpot and Pikvik instant noodles.

Myanglung blaze, eye opener to insurers

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KATHMANDU, Dec 18 : The recent fire hazard in Myanglung, the district headquarters of Terhathum, which added financial burden of millions of rupees to the already resource-scarce state, has pressed the government to review experts earlier proposal of making the household insurance at major city centers mandatory.

Even the Insurance Board (IB), citing higher degree of vulnerability of Nepali houses to natural disasters like landslides, earthquake and fire hazards, had raised the issue of making insurance of houses and buildings mandatory in major cities over a year back.

"It had even proposed to enforce the provision in Kathmandu Metropolitan City in an experiment level," stated a highly placed source talking to The Kathmandu Post. But the proposal was never brought into debate.

Leave alone provisioning people to insure their houses, the government has not even paid attention to insuring its own buildings, according to officials at the state-owned insurer, Rastriya Beema Sansthan (RBS).

The latest accident of Myanglung should be an eye opener for the government, said insurance experts, adding that had the houses that demolished in the fire hazard been insured, the post-accident liability would have been borne by insurers and foreign reinsurers.

Officials of the IB too conceded to it. The loss caused by the blaze has been estimated over Rs 2 billion, which now needs to be borne by the government. Over 85 houses gutted and 211 families rendered homeless overnight during the accident. "The lesson to be learnt from the loss is that such accidents can occur in future as well and the liability could still be higher," they said.

"To prevent itself from such unwanted liability, the government should at least provision a compulsory household insurance in major cities and also ask the insurers to design an appropriate package for those who are financially weak to pay the annual premium," added experts.

The pressure to do away with such liability has been mounting in recent time with a rise in the government liability resulting from damages to public houses and government buildings by natural disasters, accidents and Maoist attacks.

The importance of such a provision is still higher given the fact that the country lies in earthquake zone and is vulnerable to fire hazard as well due to unplanned housing development and poor construction in core areas of various cities, stress experts.

Despite the annual loss of millions of rupees incurred due to landslides, inundation and fire hazards, very few people insure houses and properties. "The number people holding the household insurance policy do not even stand at 100 in the RBS and 150 in whole insurance business," said an official.

The household insurance policy is a comprehensive cover for the combined risk and assures losses resulting from fire, landslide, inundation, and earthquake, among others. While RBS charges Rs 2,500 to cover damages up to Rs 2.5 million, other companies’ premium ranges from 60 paisa to Rs 1 per thousand rupees.

"Even as the premium of building insurance is lower, very few people insure their houses due to lack of insurance awareness," said Khem Raj Baral, Chief Manager of the RBS.

Different studies conducted by various departments of the government has revealed that most of the houses located in the core area of Kathmandu is highly exposed to fire risks due to poor electricity wiring and proximity to non-insulated electricity transmission line.

Furthermore, the government issued guidelines and norms on construction of houses have rarely been enforced which add up to the risk exposure of buildings.