HIMALAYAN COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY

(HICAST)
B.Sc. (Hons) Agriculture
Batch 20th II semester
Course: PRINCIPLE AND PRACTICES OF HORTICULTURE (HORT 121)
Internal Assessment Examination

Q. No. 1. Nepal has tremendous potentialities to grow commercial fruits with its god
gift diversities on climate and soil. Unfortunately, we are importing around 50 percent
fruits from abroad out of total requirements. What do you think the major bottlenecks
of commercial fruit production in Nepalese context and what will be the corrective
measures to boost up the area and production of fruit cultivation in a sustainable
manner that may help for import substitution and export promotion?

Answer:

Nepal has tremendous potentialities to grow commercial fruits with its god gift
diversities on climate and soil. Unfortunately, we are importing around 50 percent fruits
from abroad out of total requirements. Yes, I agree with the given statement because
Nepal has different ecological belts endowed with different types of climates due to its
geographical locations for the production of horticultural crops. Government
organizations were not in existence for the development of horticulture sector before
1950, yet growing of fruits, vegetables, spices and flowers started from time immemorial
in private sector. After the creation of Department of Horticulture during sixties several
horticulture farms were established in different agro-ecological zones where research
and extension programs were launched and horticulture development took momentum.
There is tremendous scope for commercial horticultural crops production to enter into
the international market. Due to subsistence farming system, poor infra-structure,
transportation facilities, linkage to the international market and technical know-how,
horticulture development could not gain momentum as expected. The productivity of
horticultural crops comparing with two giant neighboring countries i.e. China and India
does not give matching results. Millions of Nepalese youth have been working
abroad to earn their livelihood. Since there is no good employment opportunities
in Nepal, it has become a kind of compulsion for them to work abroad. But there
are options in Nepal too for those willing to earn staying in native land. For the
illiterate population, it can be quite hard to earn a decent living in Nepal by
doing jobs but fruit crop cultivation can be a good source of income if taken
seriously.

Fruit cultivation has a prominent place in the Nepalese economy. Many efforts have
been made in Nepal to improve agriculture since the beginning. Despite such efforts,
there has not been a significant achievement. There are several reasons why Nepal has
not made significant progress in fruit cultivation. Most of the farmers in Nepal are
illiterate and lack scientific knowledge of farming. The traditional way of farming and the
use of unscientific tools lessens productivity. Thus, farmers should be trained to use
modern technology, fertilizers, seeds and modern tools. Also, horticulturist technicians
should provide assistance to the farmer at the time of need. Sometimes, there are
deluges, droughts or partial rainfall which adversely affect the cultivation of fruit crops.
Another problem is proper irrigation facilities. There are only a few irrigation projects in
Nepal. Most of the farmers depend on rainwater but rainfall is not much reliable.
Sometimes, there are deluges, droughts or partial rainfall which adversely affects the
cultivation of crops. To increase the productivity of fruit crops, irrigation system should
be developed. Similarly, the transportation system is still poor in Nepal. The products of
one place cannot be supplied to another place. Food grains from the terai cannot reach
the Himalayan region easily and products from the Himalayan region, such as apples,
oranges cannot be brought to the terai. For this, agriculture road network should be
developed in the areas having good prospects of fruit cultivation. Likewise, the
marketing of agro products is still inadequate in Nepal. Farmers cannot sell their
products on time for a fair price. Plus, there is no scientific storage for the farmers, fruits
and vegetables get rotten. To solve this problem, markets for fruit products should be
well managed and the farmers must get a fair price for their products or the government
should buy the fruit products. There is poor production of fertilizers, insecticides,
improved seeds and tools in our country. Most of the time, we need to import such
items. Thus, necessary items are not available on time or they are expensive. Such
items should be made available in adorable cost so that every farmers can adore.
Various fruit crops like ground apple, kiwi, should be cultivated as there is high demand
of such fruits in the international market. Moreover, the government should provide loan
to the farmers at low interest and special subsidy should be provided to the farmers on
fertilizers, seeds and tools to encourage them. In the majority of Nepal, fruit cultivation
means to cultivate apple, mango and such food crops only, and even that for their own
consumption. By doing so, the export ratio of the country can be increased which results
in the upliftment of nation’s economy. Lack of research in fruits cultivation have been
seen as the problems for not development fruit cultivation and fruit industry in Nepal.
For this government of Nepal must conduct research established labs and universities
for the better improvement of fruits industry. Most of all the government of Nepal is not
stale so that the proper plans and policies for development fruit cultivation had not been
made and implement in a proper ways. For this stable government should be made by
Nepalese to promote fruit cultivation in Nepal.

Hence, these are the major problems and corrective measures to boost up the area and
production of fruit cultivation in a sustainable manner that may help for import
substitution and export promotion.
Submitted by:- Sanjib kumar ram (73)

Section:- B