Dang 26 Feb
Narayanpur, Nabin Nepali / Lamahi Municipality-9, Hardawa of Dang is gradually gaining popularity as a village of agriculture development. Vegetable and lemon farming is the mainstay of majority of households here.
With Hardawa being selected for the implementation of smart agro village programme brought out by Province-5 government, it is to be developed as ‘smart’ agro village with different support mechanisms. Ammar Kunwar, coordinator of Hardawa Smart Agro Village Programme Implementation Committee, shared the smart agriculture programme has initiated in six other sites of the district beside Hardawa.
Among the sites selected for smart agro village are Gadawa-2, Ghusa of Deukhuri for vegetable farming and goat keeping, Bangalachuli Rural Municipality-6, Ribhan for vegetable and lemon farming, Ghorahi Sub-metropolis-9 and 10 for vegetable and corn farming, Tulsipur Sub-metropolis-14 Luhadwara Matera for vegetable and corn framing and Shantinagar-7 Budhadawara Duwichaur for vegetable and corn farming, shared Kusum Bhusal, planning officer at Agriculture Knowledge Centre.
The initiative has been put in place to unleash new potentials in agriculture under the programme ‘One Parliamentarian; One Smart Agriculture Village’. The thrust of the programme is to increase the existing level of income of farmers through agriculture enterprises. “All six province assembly members, elected through the first-past-the-post electoral system, have authority to mobilise up to Rs 5 million each for a smart agro village”, Bhusal said.
“Villages have been chosen for the development through commercial agriculture. The province government would provide support mechanisms for developing the sites as commercial agriculture hubs”, he added.
The province government would extend support to the proposed agro smart villages for technology use, product marketing, irrigation management, seeds and fertilizers and linkage/coordination with different agencies.
“The programme is expected to support farmers to overcome the problems resulting from the conducts of intermediaries”, Bhusal shared, adding the goal is to make farmers commercial and tech-savvy by liberating them from traditional and subsistence agro farming.  (RSS)