Kathmandu. Minister for Agriculture, Forest and Environment Gita Chaudhary has stressed the need for increasing financial and agriculture awareness in the language of farmers along with expanding access to agricultural credit.
During a discussion on the present status of agriculture credit and the problems, challenges and ways to resolve the issues surfaced in course of the flow of subsidized agricultural loans, Minister Chaudhary said that it was necessary to explain the basic issues in agriculture sector in a simple and farmer-friendly manner.
“Arrangements should be made to provide employment opportunities to the youths who are educated in agriculture in banks and financial institutions,” she said, adding that it would also help to make the agricultural loan flow more effective and systematic as it would be easier to connect the human resources in the agriculture sector with employment and to evaluate the real needs of the agriculture sector and the projects while issuing agricultural loan from the banks. ’
Stating that complaints have been received that genuine farmers have not been able to get benefits in the process of registration of agricultural farms, loan availing and subsidized loans, she stressed the need of addressing such problems in the upcoming policy.
She further said that banks and financial institutions should not only provide loans but also consider the market of the products produced by the farmers, the potential production and the expected returns. She underscored the need of working in multi-dimensional manner to address the lack of knowledge on the use of technology, value addition, climate change and project construction in agriculture sector.
