Sustainable agriculture

Formalized under the ICA-EU Financial Framework Partnership Agreement Phase 2, the MoU reflects a shared commitment to elevating smallholder farmers—especially women and youth—as stewards of agricultural transformation.

President Paudel expressed concern over Nepal’s increasing reliance on imported rice and paddy. He underscored the importance of adopting climate-smart technologies and making use of domestic human resources to foster self-reliance in agriculture.

Through the KCC framework, farmers benefit from revolving credit facilities for up to five years. This flexible structure allows them to draw and repay funds as per their seasonal requirements without having to reapply for loans each season.

The data collected from multiple panchayats in the region paints a sobering picture. In areas such as Dhangwan, Laharpur, and Boridand, over 40 per cent of farmers surveyed reported a drastic decrease in crop diversity in the past decade.

The ministry of agriculture and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) will jointly implement the campaign with a broad coalition of stakeholders, including agricultural universities, state government departments, Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), and leading progressive farmers.

In a landmark development poised to reshape the future of agriculture, Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday announced the successful creation of the world’s first genome-edited rice varieties developed indigenously in India.

As smart farming technologies continue to mature, frameworks like this will be key to ensuring that agriculture not only meets the demands of a growing global population but does so in a way that is sustainable, efficient, and secure.

Meena’s work has not only built a thriving local economy but has also contributed to a 70 percent reduction in forest fires over the past year. What began as survival has become stewardship, and a local economy built leaf by leaf.