MoALD starts process of drafting Agriculture Act

KATHMANDU, JULY 31

The first ever Agriculture Act of the country is under discussion at the moment.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD) has requested Nepal Law Commission to draft the law after receiving the permission to do so from the Cabinet, said Hari Bahadur KC, spokesperson for MoALD.

Till date, the agriculture sector of the country is being regulated by the National Agriculture Policy 2006, hence, the ministry has decided to introduce the new act and revise the policies based on the contemporary needs of the sector, he said.

“Based on this policy, the government is preparing a separate framework and directions as per the needs of the situation. However, now there will be a whole new set of laws to regulate the sector,” KC added.

Along with this, concerned stakeholders have also started discussions related to the act. Soon after the commission prepares the draft of the law, it will be discussed with the stakeholders to make it more precise, he added.

KC further said that a new act is needed to decentralise various practices involved in the agriculture sector.

According to him, the new act will comprise laws related with deciding commercial areas for agriculture and also rules related with land lease and agreements and procurement of agriculture goods, equipment, fertilisers, seeds and other items.

Similarly, the act will also include laws related to grants, subsidies, loans, loan interest, registration of farmers, traders and industries, agriculture and livestock insurance as well as regarding fixing minimum support price of crops.

Earlier, MoALD had formed a committee led by its Joint Secretary Narayan Regmi to prepare a draft for the new act. Meanwhile, a committee led by Spokesperson KC had been formed to revise and prepare a draft of the National Agriculture Policy.

As per KC, the revised policy will address the issues of identifying current priorities of the agriculture sector, priorities of farmers and other stakeholders as well as keeping records of the latest updates in the agriculture sector while the act will be a law to regulate this sector.

For a long time stakeholders including the Parliamentary committees had also been directing the agriculture ministry to introduce a new act by revising the current policy.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on August 1, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.

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