Forum (Spotlight Weekly)

Agriculture And Rural Development

By DR. HENNING KARCHER

In light of the consensus forged at the Millennium Development Summit held in New York in the year 2000 and subsequent global conference organized in Monterrey, Doha and Johannesburg it is appropriate to look at the development process in the framework of the Millennium Development Goals.

Productivity of the agricultural sector and rural development are directly related to Millennium Development Goals number 1 and 2 which are to halve between 1990 and 2015 the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day and to halve between 1990 and 2015 the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.

Allow me to make a few remarks focused in particular on the situation of agriculture and rural development in Nepal :

Nepal has seen little of the Green Revolution. Most landholdings are small and fragmented, fertilizer use is low, agricultural road networks are inadequate and, in spite of the extensive river systems, irrigation does not reach most of the arable land.

The pattern of land holding is not conducive to productivity. The bottom 40 percent of agricultural households operate only nine percent of the total agricultural land area, while the top six percent occupy more than 33 percent of all agricultural land. In addition to unequal distribution, land holdings in Nepal can also be highly dispersed.

Nepal's mountainous terrain precludes widespread irrigation and fertilizer use because of its steep slopes, but even in the flatter Terai, only around one-third of agricultural land is effectively irrigated. Government schemes are inefficiently operated and maintained, while private irrigation systems are constrained by the fragmentation of landholdings. As a result, harvest depends heavily on the weather, especially since fertilizer use is also low due to poor distribution systems.

Slow agricultural development, land shortages and population growth have pushed more and more families into landlessness. Many small holders are being marginalised and transformed into landless workers relying on scarce wage employment. Those who have a little land extend cultivation to more marginal soils and increase cropping intensity without replenishing nutrients.

Another reason for sluggish agricultural growth centers on the marginalisation of female farmers, who account for over 50 percent of total agricultural labor. Limited access to credit, land and technical inputs, combined with their double burdens, has contributed to low output. Few resources have been devoted to improving the efficiency of seed selection, weeding and harvesting - areas where women's labor is concentrated. Administrative structures have not shown adequate sensitivity to women's needs with the result that women's programs are still peripheral.

The inability of households to secure adequate food, basic health, clothing and shelter for themselves is by far the most direct manifestation of poverty in Nepal. Those living in remote, inaccessible areas with little infrastructure and limited employment opportunities are hardest hit by food insecurity - especially poor female farmers who make up 50 percent of the agricultural labor force.

The principal challenges lie in making additional agricultural land and other productive resource available to the poor. This can be achieved by increasing productivity, expanding the scale of wage labor and recognizing food security as a principal policy agenda by the central and local governments, the communities and the wider civil society. Another key challenge is improving food distribution among different regions of Nepal where lack of transport networks prevents surplus food produced in agriculturally rich areas from reaching food-deficit areas. Increasing the rate of economic growth and making that growth employment-friendly is mandatory in order to reduce food insecurity. Raising educational standards and other opportunities of the affected households is also necessary to reduce food insecurity over the medium term.

Considering the topography of Nepal the enormous social, ethnic and cultural diversity, it is clear that a centralized approach to managing the development process cannot work. Significant steps have already been taken in the direction of decentralization. However, much more needs to be done with a view to moving responsibility for decision making and accountability all the way down to the village and community level. This applies not only to social services but also to agricultural extension and research. Unless and until extension workers are directly accountable to the communities they are supposed to serve and unless and until agricultural research take place in farmers fields significant break - throughs cannot be expected in agricultural development.

Social Mobilization :

Activities carried out under the UNDP supported South Asian Poverty Alleviation Program (SAPAP) in 6 SAARC countries have provided ample evidence that through social mobilization a process of genuine empowerment can be set into motion enabling the poor to take charge of the development process, join hands for the development of irrigation systems, engage in the establishment of micro enterprises and access government services. The social mobilization process must therefore be scaled up to cover entire countries turning the poor from a problem into a source of growth.

Agrarian reform :

The need for agrarian reform in most South Asian countries is well recognized and documented in the report. The challenge lies in bringing about an effective and swift implementation of the relevant laws and procedures. For Nepal the poverty reduction gains from a swift implementation of the current land reform legislation could be significant.

Financial services :

As documented in many studies and reports the majority of rural families in South Asia including Nepal are not reached by established financial institutions. Administrative costs are high resulting in uneconomic operations. The provision of financial services though community organizations and the local development funds which exist now in most districts of Nepal represent a viable and proven avenue for the provision of financial services in our host country.

Women empowerment :

As mentioned earlier the role of women in providing agricultural labor has not been adequately recognized and addressed. Empowering women through social mobilization and adjusting technology and service delivery to their needs could go a long way in enhancing agricultural productivity and reducing poverty in South Asia in general and Nepal in particular.

(Excerpts of the statement by UNDP Resident Representative Dr. Karcher on the occasion of the launch of South Asian Human Development Report 2002)