Agrarian Reforms
For Rural Development

By Jai Narayan Jha

NEPAL is basically and predominantly an agricultural country. About 82 per cent of the people depend on it for their livelihood. More than 66 per cent of the country's income is derived from this sector. Up to a few years back in the total export of the country the share of agricultural production was 80 per cent.

Mainstay

Ninety per cent of total population resides in the rural areas whose mainstay is agriculture. Agriculture contributes over 40 per cent in G.D.P. of the country. Over 60 per cent of population in rural areas are in semi-employment positions. There is poverty in rural areas and disparity in land holding system. It has deteriorated the whole situation. Nearly half of the peasant families in Nepal belong to the small categories with holding less than 0.5 per cent hectare of land. About 49 per cent of people are below the poverty line. The number of people below the poverty line is increasing at the rate of two per cent. It is estimated that more than 11 million people are below the poverty line. About 90 per cent of farmers are poor of which 60 to 70 per cent being small and 33 per cent much smaller farmers. Fifty-five per cent of farmers own less than 12 per cent of cultivated land while the average farm size is 0.2 hectare only. About 70 per cent of the farm households with holding more than 15 per cent possess as much as 59 per cent of cultivated land. Poverty is increasing because of lack of land, employment opportunities and resources.

Poverty in the rural area is 2.5 times higher than in the urban area. Fact finding studies have suggested that about 24 per cent of small and medium landowners in the mountain region, 40 per cent in the hilly area and 18 per cent in the terai are below the poverty line.

Besides, foodgrains production in various geographic areas of the country also presents a gloomy picture. Terai accounts for 26.2 per cent of total arable land and with 49.60 per cent of the population. Terai is the 'bread basket" for the whole country. It produces surplus food grains, which are supplied to the food deficit mountainous areas. It is noteworthy that in the total production 32 per cent comes from the hill and only 4 per cent from the mountainous districts. Of the total arable land of 2326 million ha. only 16 per cent is under cultivation in mountainous areas. An average holding of land in this area hardly exceeds 0.1 to 0.5 ha. Of the 55 mountainous districts 46 are the food deficit districts. Some districts solely depend on the government for regular supply of food grains. Nepal Food corporation has to supply large quantity of food grains to these areas on subsidised rates. Food demand of mountainous districts has been increasing at 6.7 per cent per year.

Poverty is increasing in the mountainous areas. Deficiency in food has compelled the mountainous people to come down to terai in search of food and employment. As a result, the population of mountainous districts has come down to 53 per cent from that of 58 per cent while the population of terai is increasing at the rate of 4.1 per cent. The national growth rate of population is 2.27 per cent only. As such terai is facing pressure in absorbing unwanted population.

According to the data from 1960 to 1979 the population of Janakpur, Rajbiraj, Biratnagar and Kathmandu increased by 60 per cent, 49 per cent, 27.56 per cent, 24.30 per cent respectively. The migration of people from hilly areas to the terai has caused great loss in forest resources. Over the years the forest resources of the country have decreased from 56 to 29 per cent. Projection shows that with on going trend the accessible forest in the terai area will disappear in 25 years. Migration of people from the hilly area to terai in search of food may be expected to continue at current rates, equivalent to about 1500 families per year. Deforestation causes drought and famine.

Rivers beds have risen by 15-30 cm annually and flooding is doing considerable harm to the crops in the Gangetic plains. It is estimated that about 240 million cubic meters of soil is being washed away by Nepal's four major rivers and 600 tributaries. The soil loss is calculated to be between 20 tons per ha. annually reaching over 200 tons in some critical areas. If the present trend continues without properly being checked, denundation rates will accelerate and the possibility of far reaching destruction of Nepal's eco-system cannot be precluded.

Hence the major challenges are to increase the production and productivity for rapidly increased population and to export food grains for reducing the trade deficit. Increasing the production of cash crops and raw materials for the consumption of agro based industries and diversify the crops to facilitate local farmers to absorb local labours throughout the year and to discourage them from going to Punjab and Hariyana in India for additional earnings.

Agriculutral sector was accorded the top priority ever since the First Five Years plan was launched Rs. 4678.75 and 33.96 and 7202 crores were expended respectively in the agriculture sector in the First to Third plan periods. Similarly an out lay of Rs 234.96, 435.25, and 886.87 crores were earmarked for Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh plans respectively. Some 31.1 per cent in the sixth plan and 31 per cent in the seventh plan period was set aside for agricultural development. Similarly, in the Eight plan period Rs. 2119.3 crore was earmarked for agricultural sector.

However despite all these the progress in this sector has still been gloomy. Over the years the production as well as the productivity have declined. Food grain production is continued to decline owing to frequent drought and famine. The government has not paid proper attention to increase the irrigation facilities. Whatever growth was registered over the years that was not due to the streamlined programme of "green revolution" rather by the expansion of arable land by 0.7 per cent annually.
As a result of the decreasing trend in the agricultural production Nepal had to import cereals worth 45 crores in 1981/82. Rice export amounted to 165000 MT in 1975 but it had decreased to 13000 MT in 1979/80. As early as in 1979 FAO warned Nepal that it would become a net importer of foodgrains from 1980 onwards.

The agricultural programmes and projects have made slower progress because of lack of trained persons and those trained not properly utilised. The major constraints in the hilly areas are the steepness of teraians, soil erosion, encroachment of forest and denude land which have brought about extensive land slides and destroying the cultivable land by floods. Similarly, lack of managerial capacity, overemphasis on building infrastructure, rather than paying adequate attention to the common problems of the peasants have been the major problems of agricultural sector. Likewise, inability to study the genuine problems of this important sector of the economy and devising ways and means for incorporating the views of the peasants are other problems which need immediate attention.
The background of the civil servants concerned for agricultural development is not from farming sector as such most plans are unpragmatic and based on assumption. It is experienced that the problems are one and the solutions sought are quite the other. Similarly, there is the greater need to invest large amount of money on irrigation facilities both by the central government as well as by the local government units. In recent years labour problems have emerged as a major hurdle in the rural areas. The wages of construction and industrial laborers are higher than that of the agricultural labourers. The terms and the conditions of their service vary from village to village and from district to district. Some political parties instigate the labourers to demand more wages and keep soldering in works. The cost of production is much higher than the output. Sometimes even the seeds are not returned. This is a pity that in Nepal there is the problem of labour but a large number of labourers go to Punjab and Hariyana for higher earnings.

Need

If drastic changes are not introduced in agriculture, the problem in a few years time will be chaotic. The country cannot cope with the ever increasing need of foodgrains as a result of population explosion. Famine can invite starvation and the economy of the country cannot allow to import foodgrains for long.

Forwarding Of Cargo By Air

By Prayag Man Kayastha

ANY perishable or non-perishable goods, baggage, mail, plants, birds, animals, human remains etc, which are carried by the flights under an Air Waybill is treated as cargo. Cargo generally booked by the agents or their sub-agents will be checked and weighed by the custom officials but there will be no representatives from the concerned airlines. The agents will simply hand-over the Air Waybill with a custom location and serial numbers to the airlines and the agents also sometime arrange to carry the cargo from the Export Custom Terminal to the ramp areas where the loading will be done. This way, the airlines staff blindly believe the agents and will be forwarded by the flights.

If the raid is made immediately after the publication of this article, one can hardly find the correct weights of the cargo deposited already in Kathmandu for other countries as shown in the Air Waybill. It can be assumed that a special dealing must be there between the concerned to make more personal benefit and to cause heavy risk for the flight. It is possible that there may come a threat from the concerned because of exposition of such an age-old scandal as true speaking may always invite bitterness. So, the concerned should not make delay in doing something concrete as the sky is not so free as before.

Trying to control the overweight by re-weighing the cargo by a certain airlines only as done earlier, will not help as such airlines may be boycotted by the agents jointly. So, it needs to process jointly by all the airlines to combat such a hidden and most dangerous act.

Cargo is a matter of not a few hunded kilograms but thousands of kilograms come almost in all the flights. It is not possible to re-weight the cargo of ramp areas because of lack of time and weighing scale facilities. Such lack of facilities has become an opportunity for the different agents. It can be assumed that minimum ten to thirty per cent of weight is shown less than the actual weight each time by some of the agents with vested interests. Such a play played as a plague is quite known to all but no one takes interest in reforming the age-old scandal. The concerned almost take no interest in how aircraft's centre of gravity will be changed according to the distribution of load on board. The correct centre of gravity is most essential for the smooth operation of flight as well as safety. Any undeclared baggage or cargo on board may cause disbalance to the sophiscated aircraft. This way, the flight which operate with undeclared cargo having no under-load will always fly with over-load.

The racketing of cargo weight has been alarming because some of the agents or sub-agents are not satisfied only with the commission received from the parties and the airlines. The agents normally get different types of commission ranging from two to seventy per cent as an incentive against the general rate published in the TACT. The Air Cargo Tariff published by IATA depending upon the volume of cargo, sectors, and airlines' confidential agreement, which may varies from airlines to airlines. So, one can imagine how much earning can be made in huge bookings. Such facilities are available in other different sectors also.

As such, the amended or re-amended Air Waybill with unauthorised low rate are often used by the agents although it is not allowed to do so as per the regulations because such bills do not help to realise the compensation if there comes any involvement of insurance.

If the investigation is done, the following could be the type of story. The agent may be sure that the mistake might have been done by the party. The party also might be angry about this charge as it is a matter of prestige. They may say that they have paid full payment as per the total weight. At last, it may end up that each party blames each other, when actually, no party blamed any party because the scandal might have been committed strictly under the mutual understanding".

There is, therefore, no alternatives to control it except to put the culprits behind the bar with a seizure of cargo and awarding a maximum punishment if found guilty, and not only issue a simple letter of caution or warning or to realise the charges of excess weight upon checking and leave them with good wishes confidentially for taking no action.

Moving On Abroad

By Nirja Karki

LIKE every other aspiring young girl I too had always wanted to go abroad some day and like many others my first choice for some reason was the US, but then things always don't go the way you want them to, do they? And I had to opt for London instead. Well it so happens that I am in London right now with a student visa that is; in many different ways it is a dream come true.

The process of applying, the anxieties, the fear of whether I would get the visa or not, those sleepless nights and listening to all the many stories of how the counsellor gives the visa, stories that made me wonder whether I would get the visa or not made me all the stronger to believe that I would make it somehow. All those troubles had come to an end. It was finally what I had wanted but then came the most essential part that was leaving, and leaving didn't mean leaving my family, friends or relatives. I was leaving behind everything I grew up with, my country, city and tole as we call it. All the anticipation and buzz of the procedure had made me unaware of this inevitable part of leaving.

Well after I came here initially I liked everything and anything I saw, after all is a huge sea of different faces I had never seen before and at times it can be quite amusing. But ehen it was only a matter of days, a few days when I couldn't eat my regular food, sleep in my regular bed and talk about all the regular things with my family about what I felt, then nothing compared to my own dear home. A lot of you might thing I am being too patriotic for nothing that is. We I am very patriotic when it comes to my country but in this case it is not so.

It's plain and simple, I miss my country every day. Many of us have been through arguments on if everybody leaves the country then what will happen of the country, how will the country function etc. Them we say we are not going forever, of course, I'm coming back, it's just a few years. I was aware of the fact that if there was no youth population in a country then the country wouldn't have a bright future but I chose to leave it because I thought there are so many like me who will want to be here and willingly so. Deep inside, all of us know that it is a crisis after all every third or fourth person we meet desires to go abroad. A lot of excuses used to hurl within me then, sometimes I would blame our government which we so often do for anything and everything, it's almost a disease, sometimes the politicians and sometimes I would think that it is for my country's own good and sometimes I thought it's only me, one like me wouldn't matter. I tried to answer these questions to myself but I knew it was a serious issue, a problem that would show its consequences some day.

'The more frustrated ones say that there is no future in our country then why stay here?? Uff !!!!!! So many things to worry about just as if your personal problems weren't enough for us alone. Still I wanted to go, no matter what. Now that I am here (UK) and experiences teach you a lot, you know!!!
I know that I am not in a position to tell you all not to go abroad and stay in your, or else, our country, I'd make a big fool of myself it I did so. And trust me I know how it feels, I've been through all that, if someone had told me then I know what I'd say but all I want to say is that while you are still there just feel thankful that you're still there.

Folks that is your own country and this isn't. There have been times when I've wished, oh, how I've wished, how it would be to go back just once and be back again. Emails and phone calls were all I had to be in touch. At times I wonder how it will be like to see all my family again and see their faces for real and I can't. It's not so easy to come back, before finishing my degree, you know, then adjusting and going on is just what's left, moving on …putting it right.