Boosting Cash Crop Production
More Emphasis Needed

By Khilendra Basnyat

THE highest percentage of the people is still engaged in agriculture in Nepal. This sector comprises about sixty-one per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The low GDP growth or poor agricultural product is the outcome of poor agricultural performance.

The agricultural development programme and its implementation, which have so much to do with Nepal’s overall development process, suffer even today from diverse disadvantages.

In Nepal agriculture is practiced mostly in terraced slopes, valleys and riverbanks. The production on terraces is mainly based on rain-fed conditions and is on a declining trend due to the loss of topsoil every year. This has jeopardised the country to maintain environmentally sustainable agricultural productivity from limited land resources. In addition, this has led to the expansion of cultivation on steep slopes and marginal land including forestland.

In fact, large-scale agricultural productions are essential to compete in the international market. However, Nepal does not possess vast agricultural land for such a production. Despite, this, nature has favoured Nepal for producing cash crops. For this purpose, it is necessary to exploit various climatic conditions at different altitudes bestowed by nature.

The share of cash crops in Nepal’s agricultural production is about twenty-five per cent. The cash crops occupy about ten per cent of the cropped area. The area under cash crop increased at an annual rate of 2.23 per cent from 1961-1962 to 1980-1981.

The tarai constitutes different agricultural systems. Because of the comparatively heavy rainfall, double and sometimes triple cropping is possible. In the eastern tarai, the combination of rich alluvial soil and rainfall, which exceed two hundred millimeter, makes possible the cultivation of jute, sugarcane and tobacco. These are the main cash crops which are cultivated in about twenty-seven thousand, seven thousand and two thousand hectares, respectively. Good access to transportation and market in Nepal enables the export of cash crops.

About half of the jute produced in Nepal is processed in our jute mills, the rest being exported to India.

Most of the sugarcane produced is transported to Indian sugar mills located along the border. Before the establishment of the Janakpur Cigarette Factory, the lion’s share of the tobacco crop was also sold to Indian cigarette factories.

Oilseed, with an estimated area of ninety thousand hectares, is also an important commercial crop in the tarai and to some extent in the inner tarai as well. Some sugarcane and oilseed are also grown in the inner tarai, chiefly for local consumption.

In the past few years, the tobacco and potato yields declined, and the jute yield remained almost constant. In general, the yield of cash crops was better than for cereal crops.

In Nepal, tea plantation is also gaining popularity over the years. This is because the tea industry showed a positive performance during all the plans under consideration. On the eastern tarai, there are bright prospects for tea plantation.

Expansion of tea plantation in feasible areas and naked hills of the Eastern Development Region under the guidance of the Tea Development Corporation took place only after the mid-1970s. The private sector came into this business about four decades ago when private parties were provided loans at a low rate of interest of eight per cent. The small landholders took part in this business only in the 1980s.

Pondering over the bright prospects of tea plantation in Nepal, perhaps, the government in 2056 B.S. brought the National Tea Policy which aims at extending tea plantation to over forty thousand hectares within five years and increasing the annual production to more than sixteen million kilograms within a decade. Although the target appears ambitious, it is natural to be hopeful for getting substantial achievement within the specified time.

Since the past few years coffee cultivation has also been gaining ground in our country. Apart from Gulmi and Arghakhanchi districts, Sindhupalchowk district is being planted with coffee plants. It is obvious for the concerned authorities to identify more districts and areas where coffee cultivation can be done. By doing so, not only would the farmers be enabled to raise their social and economic status by taking to coffee cultivation but the nation can ever export this product to strengthen the economy.

In addition, to the above-mentioned cash crops, cotton, mustard, linseed, ginger large cardamom and spices are also cultivated in Nepal. These crops cultivation, if expanded well, can contribute to the nation’s economy.

In reality, Nepal has a comparative advantage in the production of these crops, and the input has increased during the past few years. Our oilseed, jute, tea etc, are exported. The changes in cropping pattern depict a shift in favour of high value cash crops.

Notwithstanding the fact that Nepal is an agrarian country with the highest percentage of people relying on agriculture for their survival, the sector has not delivered the products as desired. It is because farmers mostly grow cereal crops.

It is generally believed that investment on adequate money in agricultural development is not justifiable. However, this illogical notion can be changed by producing high value cash crops for domestic or international market.

In order to benefit from agriculture, Nepal’s agricultural system should undergo a palpable change in future. The main motivating factor for this change can be a good marketing system for a number of consumers within and outside the country.

Any increase in the income level of urban residents coupled with better transportation facilities can provide the producers with various opportunities. Consequently, small farms previously operating on subsistence scale will be converted into commercial entities and function with the demand and supply mechanism of the market.

It is evident that Nepalese cash crops entreprenuers are unable to export to a large number of foreign markets because of high costs of production, inadequate credit facilities, tariff barrier, transportation problems and absence of knowledge of market requirements. Actually, these problems should be reduced gradually.

The government will implement the twenty-year Agricultural Plan which will promote high value cash crops and small agricultural enterprises in the coming years.

No doubt, boosting the export of cash crops is essential to earn foreign exchange that is needed by the country to implement national development plans and programmes. Therefore, it is indispensable to place more emphasis on cash crops production in the years to come.

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