Almost 80 per cent of farm households in Nepal have less than one hectare of land whereas about 20 per cent of the larger farmers occupy more than one hectare of land. Agriculture contributes significantly to employment and income generation and is the country’s top priority for issues such as commercialisation, value addition, export promotion, import substitution and employment generation.
With the changing food habits and raised awareness, fresh vegetable production is gaining popularity day by day among the Nepalese consumers and other actors from the value chain.
The programme aims to help smallholder vegetable farmers, including women and disadvantaged groups, increase income by using better cultivation practices and increased access to markets. The intervention areas proposed are:
- Inputs companies promote their products and provide advisory services to farmers on proper usage of their products.
- Traders get connected with farmers for demand-based production, reduce post-harvest loss and assure market for the production.