For Environment, Democracy and Livelihoods
District level consultation on issues of Agriculture in Dhunche, Rasuwa organized by ForestAction Nepal and Nepal Agroforestry Foundation on 31 December, 2012
District level consultation on issues of Agriculture in Dhunche, Rasuwa ForestAction Nepal and Nepal Agroforestry Foundation (NAF) jointly organized district level stakeholder consultation workshop in Dhunche, Rasuwa on 31 December 2012. The main aim of the consultation was to discuss on the issues of agriculture policies in the broader context of Nepal and the issues and challenges of the agriculture sector in Rasuwa. This interaction was held between the farmers from villages and district level stakeholders. Approximately 35 participants were present in the workshop including representatives from District Agriculture Development Office, District Development Committee, District Livestock Service Office, farmers from 6 VDCs and some journalists. Mr. Kamal Acharya from NAF welcomed and introduced about the overall program, objectives and introduced each other. The team from ForestAction facilitated the interaction. Sujata Tamang from ForestAction presented on the overall issues of agriculture in Nepal and discussed about the need to promote sustainable agriculture explaining the current problems seen in agriculture sector. Similarly Dipankar Dahal presented on the major causes of declination of agriculture in Nepal. Moreover, Dr. Krishna Paudel discussed about the agriculture policy process, updates on current agriculture development strategy and the responsibilities of the government offices at district level. He encouraged farmers to raise their voice to the service providers and to be part of the policy process. Bhim Bahadur Tamang, farmer from Ramche argued on services provided by DADO of being unable to test the local soil and recommend the appropriate varieties of crops. Another farmer Chayangba Dorje was concerned on problems of wildlife attack to their crops and livestock. Krishna Humagain from DDC tried to defend himself on farmer’s comments by saying that they have limited resource but have tried to provide most of the services. He also complained on the farmers being totally dependent over the outsiders including government services. According to him villagers have also misused the funds though there are enough funds from different sources. Durga Dutta Panthi from DADO assured farmers that they are there to provide services to local farmers and they will try their best to serve them. Overall, the program was able to provide platform for the interaction between local farmers and the government staff. There was good discussion about the input and services from government as well as farmer’s dependency to the fund and outsiders even for possible and small scale works. It’s also noteworthy that district government staffs are also in limited resources and limited decision making power while farmers also are facing various problems in farming both natural and technological difficulties.