The Minister of Agriculture himself admits – ”subsidies have been flowed even in projects that have been phased out”.
Agriculture and Livestock Development Minister Ramnath Adhikari has announced time and time again that he will publish the list of those who do not work after taking subsidies from the Ministry of Agriculture. On August 4 last, while talking to mediapersons at the ministry, the official said, "Billions of rupees have been given as subsidies in the last five to seven years. I have already said that all the details should be made public. In a few days it will also be public.
Even after that, the minister had been saying that he would publish the list of those who took the subsidy and misused it. But on Sunday, he held a press conference and only announced the list of the grantees. They could not find the associations, organizations, cooperatives that misused the grant. He said that the grant flowed even from phased out projects, but he did not make public the list of misused.
From the financial year 2076/77 to 2080/81, direct and indirect subsidies of Rs. The direct side is 20 billion 33 million rupees and the indirect side (subsidized chemical fertilizers) is 87 billion 35 million 97 million rupees," the minister said in the press conference, "Subsidy money has also flowed to phase out projects, we will publish the details soon.
According to the Ministry, the projects that have been phased out are the High Value Agriculture Project, the Himali Project, and the Advanced Seed Seed Program for Farmers. It is said that the grant money that went to these institutions will also be studied.
The ministry made a secretary-level decision on October 2 to find out whether the grant was misused or not and to find the list of grants. A five-member committee was formed under the chairmanship of Joint Secretary Hari Bahadur KC. In 5 years, a large amount of subsidy has been flowed to promote the agriculture and livestock sector for chemical fertilizers, crop and livestock insurance, incentive subsidy for sugarcane production, small irrigation, market infrastructure, agricultural implements, seed production, production and productivity increase.
Hari Bahadur KC, joint secretary of the ministry, claims that although the subsidy amount is not 100% utilized, the subsidy has increased the agricultural production. Some have come under investigation after the misuse of grants. An investigation was conducted due to some complaints. It is also said that some did not work at all. But now there is no problem like in the past, there is some improvement,' said Casey, 'overall, the subsidy is effective.'
The Ministry has announced that the subsidy money has been directly transferred from 5 projects while announcing the names of the agricultural cooperatives, agricultural groups and agricultural firms that will take the subsidy. These include Prime Minister Agriculture Modernization Project, Rani Jamra Gulria Irrigation Project Agriculture Program Implementation Unit, Agricultural Sector Development Program, Nepal Livestock Innovation Project and Food and Nutrition Security Improvement Project.
6 billion 61 billion 95 lakh 31 thousand rupees have been transferred from the Prime Minister's Agriculture Modernization Project. The minister said that 141 thousand 670 agricultural cooperatives, agricultural groups and agricultural firms have taken this amount. Rani Jamra Gulria Irrigation Project Agriculture Program Implementation Unit has flowed Rs.18 crore 48 lakh 61 thousand rupees. The Ministry has said that 21,450 agricultural cooperatives, groups and firms have taken it.
An amount of Rs. Through that program, 27 thousand 650 agricultural cooperatives and agricultural groups and agricultural firms have taken funds. 1 billion 92 crore 75 lakh 13 thousand rupees has been flowed from the Nepal Livestock Innovation Project.
According to the ministry, funds have been distributed to 11,150 agricultural cooperatives, agricultural groups and agricultural firms. 1.5 billion 37 lakh 79 thousand rupees have flowed from the food and nutrition security improvement project. This amount has been distributed to 46 thousand 226 agricultural cooperatives, agricultural groups and agricultural firms.
Sugarcane farmers have received 4.7 billion 24 lakh 20 thousand rupees through incentive subsidy, said the minister. According to the ministry, Rs 500 million 48 lakh 82 thousand have been allocated towards the premium subsidy of agricultural insurance and Rs 5 billion 138 million 66 thousand towards the premium subsidy of livestock and fish insurance. According to the ministry, 2 billion 100 million 2.6 million rupees of subsidy has been flowed through the pact project through 1223 agricultural cooperatives, agricultural groups and agricultural firms. A minister official claimed that action would be taken if the grant was misused.
