185 super zones proposed to make country self-dependent on agriculture

Kathmandu / April 11: The Agriculture Development Ministry has proposed a programme of the fiscal year 2016/17 with the target of establishing 185 super zones for the development of agriculture sector in all seven provinces.

In today’s meeting of the Agriculture and Water Resource Committee under the Legislature-Parliament, Agriculture Minister Haribol Gajurel said that the Ministry has proposed different programmes in order to make maize, rice, vegetable farming and cash crop commercial.

Stating that they have proposed the policy and programmes with the target of making the country self-dependent on agriculture within next two years, Minister Gajurel said that the government would bring a special programme to end the trend of keeping land barren.

The government has a target to provide all types of service and facility by developing specially Tarai area as pocket area of agriculture production.

The government is to run Fruit Area Expansion Programme as the campaign by declaring the fiscal year 2017/18 BS as Fruit Plantation Year while the next fiscal year 2016/17 would be celebrated as fruits nursery establishment and sapling production year.

Similarly, the government would provide grant for the construction of pond for fisheries. The government is to install 1,000 shallow-tubewells at different districts in Tarai for the irrigation facility.

The Agriculture and Water Resource Committee has directed the Agriculture Ministry and Education Ministry to make policy-level arrangement to send the students of Tribhuvan University and Agriculture and Forest University as trainee for six months compulsorily, said Committee President Gagan Thapa. RSS