Sustainable agriculture

The Prime Minister Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana draws inspiration from NITI Aayog’s Aspirational District Programme and first of its kind focusing exclusively on agriculture and allied sectors.

The minister has said that strict legal action, including cancellation of licenses and registration of FIRs, should be taken against the culprits, and effective prosecution must be ensured to secure conviction.

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.