Kathmandu, March 11: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has said the government was moving ahead with the campaign of making the country self-reliant in food grains within two years.
The Prime Minister said this while addressing the national workshop titled 'Six Decades of Japanese Cooperation in Nepal's Agricultural Development' organised to mark the 42nd establishment day of the Nepal JICA Alumni Association (JAN) here on Friday.
He underlined the need of modernising the agriculture sector as more than two-thirds of the country's population is relies on agriculture.
Expressing the hope that the agriculture sector would continue to get Japanese assistance, he urged developed countries like Japan to extend support to Nepal with open heart. The PM stated that the incumbent government is different from its predecessors and hence has shown eagerness towards rapid economic growth.
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He appreciated the assistance provided by Japan in the aftermath of the April 25 Earthquake, drawing from own experience in reconstruction from a devastating earthquake that hit Japan in 2011.
"Although an agriculture-based country, we have not been able to become self-sufficient in food grains. This is disgraceful. We are moving ahead with the campaign of making the country self-sufficient in food grains within two years," the Prime Minister said.
PM Oli stressed on the need of making the maximum use of the available arable land and opined that the Japanese assistance could be significant towards commercialising the agriculture sector.
He also emphasised on a balanced economic development approach to be safe from the adverse impact of the climate change in the agriculture sector while at the same time protecting the rights of the people.
Japanese ambassador Masashi Ogawa expressed the confidence that this year would be fruitful for Nepal in terms of socio-economic development and transformation.
Chief of JICA Nepal, Satomi Izumi spoke of the need of industrialisation for the development of agriculture in the rural areas.
Milan, a publication of JAN was launched and the newly-elected working committee office-holders of JAN, including president Dr Ram Chandra Bhusal, received certificates on the occasion.
Chief Secretary Dr Somlal Subedi and the government officials working in the agriculture sector are scheduled to present working papers on the theme of the workshop in the second session of the programme. RSS