Agriculture Minister says country will be made self-dependent in 10 years

Chitwan / Dec 24: The Prime Minister Agriculture Modernisation Project has come into operation in Chitwan district with an investment of about Rs 10 million.

Minister for Agricultural Development Gauri Shankar Chaudhari inaugurated the project office at Parbatipur in west Chitwan on Saturday.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister Chaudhari said that the project has been launched in 37 districts of the country, with the objective of making the country self-sufficient in agriculture production in 10 years.

He stated that the programme complements the 20-year agriculture development strategy and there is the target of investing Rs 130 billion in this programme in 10 years. The Minister added that this programme was an indigenous programme without any outside funding so it needs to be made successful through the cooperation of all.

The Minister said the project has been brought by focusing on vegetables, paddy and fishery development as the western part of Chitwan was best suited for this. He reiterated that the Ministry was concentrated on increasing agriculture production by promoting mechanisation and modernisation in the agriculture sector.

Also on Saturday, Minister Chaudhari observed the cow research programme and the maize research programme at Rampur in Chitwan. He also made on-site inspection of the vegetable cultivation at different places.

In course of his observation visit, Minister Chaudhari said that study is being undertaken to set up agricultural research centres in all the seven provinces.

Chief of the Prime Minister Agricultural Modernisation Project, Somnath Ghimire said the programme aims to grow vegetables on minimum 500 hectares.

The project has been operated covering Barayani, Chitwan Municipality and some areas of the Bharatpur Sub-Metropolitan City in the district. RSS