After almost a yearlong silence,
Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperative (MoAC) is finally preparing to
review a methodology adopted to draft a 20-year vision document
Agriculture Development Strategy (ADS) 2015-2035 that will guide
country´s agricultural sector once the existing Agriculture Perspective
Plan (APP) ends in 2015.
So far, the ministry had assigned a 33-member technical assistance team, one-third of which are foreign consultants, to draft the document. However, such a closed-door approach had drawn flak from various farmers associations as well as MoAC officials themselves.
"We might have to rethink the way the team has been formed and the way it functions, particularly as it might later pose problem in owning the document," Dr Hari Dahal, joint-secretary and spokesperson of the MoAC, told Republica on Tuesday.
The Ministry has even called a consultation meeting of the stakeholders on March 15 to review the whole approach of drafting ADS.
Various farmers´ groups had protested the approach, mainly expressing fear that close-door preparation of such a crucial document by ´so called agro-experts and foreign experts´ might not address their concerns.
"The methodology used in preparing ADS is almost similar to that of APP. As APP was totally a failure, adoption of same method has raised question over ADS being a better document," said Prem Dangal, general secretary of the All Nepal Peasants Federation (ANPF).
Some of the MoAC officials too had challenged the approach, saying that it might lead to lack of ownership by various ministries.
"The 20-year vision document will deal on multi-sectors like irrigation, agricultural inputs, and other crucial sub-sectors. It is always appropriate to let the respective ministries formulate the related set of strategies, instead of preparing them by MoAC," said an official at MoAC.
Dahal agreed with the official and even admitted that APP failed because it was not fully owned by the line ministries and agencies supposed to implement the action plan. Also reduction in budgetary allocations on the sector had hit its implementation.
"We are having a meeting with farmers and other stakeholders to hear their voices," Dahal said, "We will consider their concerns seriously."
The government is preparing the ADS with the technical assistance of various donor agencies, including Asian Development Bank, World Bank and United State Agency for International Development (USAID), among others.
Two-thirds of the members in the drafting committee led by Francesco Goletti, a policy and institutional specialist and president of Agrifood Consulting International- New York University, are former government officials.
"Our concern is the team has no representation from farmers´ organization and civil society groups working in the agriculture sector," stated Dangal.
MoAC officials said the government has allocated $2 million (around Rs 160 million) to prepare the ADS and the team has been asked to submit it within two years.
So far, the ministry had assigned a 33-member technical assistance team, one-third of which are foreign consultants, to draft the document. However, such a closed-door approach had drawn flak from various farmers associations as well as MoAC officials themselves.
"We might have to rethink the way the team has been formed and the way it functions, particularly as it might later pose problem in owning the document," Dr Hari Dahal, joint-secretary and spokesperson of the MoAC, told Republica on Tuesday.
The Ministry has even called a consultation meeting of the stakeholders on March 15 to review the whole approach of drafting ADS.
Various farmers´ groups had protested the approach, mainly expressing fear that close-door preparation of such a crucial document by ´so called agro-experts and foreign experts´ might not address their concerns.
"The methodology used in preparing ADS is almost similar to that of APP. As APP was totally a failure, adoption of same method has raised question over ADS being a better document," said Prem Dangal, general secretary of the All Nepal Peasants Federation (ANPF).
Some of the MoAC officials too had challenged the approach, saying that it might lead to lack of ownership by various ministries.
"The 20-year vision document will deal on multi-sectors like irrigation, agricultural inputs, and other crucial sub-sectors. It is always appropriate to let the respective ministries formulate the related set of strategies, instead of preparing them by MoAC," said an official at MoAC.
Dahal agreed with the official and even admitted that APP failed because it was not fully owned by the line ministries and agencies supposed to implement the action plan. Also reduction in budgetary allocations on the sector had hit its implementation.
"We are having a meeting with farmers and other stakeholders to hear their voices," Dahal said, "We will consider their concerns seriously."
The government is preparing the ADS with the technical assistance of various donor agencies, including Asian Development Bank, World Bank and United State Agency for International Development (USAID), among others.
Two-thirds of the members in the drafting committee led by Francesco Goletti, a policy and institutional specialist and president of Agrifood Consulting International- New York University, are former government officials.
"Our concern is the team has no representation from farmers´ organization and civil society groups working in the agriculture sector," stated Dangal.
MoAC officials said the government has allocated $2 million (around Rs 160 million) to prepare the ADS and the team has been asked to submit it within two years.
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