Agricultural Revolution Set on......Nepal

“Everything else can wait, but not agriculture.”

-Jawaharlal Nehru

“The principal trigger to the Green Revolution was access to fundamental agricultural research done by credible institutions within and outside the country and its technology spin-offs at affordable costs. The fi rst generation of agricultural research in the country was mainly the by-product of the public sector system... However, today, both agricultural research and most science and technology advances are being increasingly privatised. While the Green Revolution of the 1960s came virtually free to the farmers, these days almost all agricultural advances come at a huge cost, often beyond the reach of the common farmer.”

“Falling profi tability of farming operations, the drying up of non-farming opportunities and the growing fragmentation of landholdings all make agriculture a losing proposition. Three-fourths of Nepali farmers take home less than Rs 1,000 a month. That is roughly 60 per cent of the starting salary for a government attender!”