The local level has been emphasizing the increase in agricultural production in its policy programs. However, it seems that the budget spent through the agriculture department is being curtailed every year.
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The local level of Rupandehi, which has abundant arable land, has allocated a low budget for the agriculture sector. As the small budget is spread across many schemes, commercial agriculture has not been able to flourish in the municipality.
The budget spent through the branches with expert employees under the municipality is small. Many municipal chairmen/vice-chairmen have kept the budget under their responsibility for arbitrary distribution. Some budget is being spent through the wards.
The local level has been emphasizing the increase in agricultural production in its policy programs. However, it seems that the budget spent through the agriculture branch is being curtailed every year. The bordering Marchwari rural municipality of Rupandehi has allocated a budget of 1.5 million rupees for the agriculture sector for the current fiscal year 2082/83. The same amount of budget was allocated last fiscal year. In 2080/081 and 2079/080, Marchwari allocated a budget of 2 million rupees each to the agriculture branch, said branch chief Dinesh Kumar Yadav. He said that the budget is insufficient to encourage commercial agriculture.
Marchwari, which has fertile land, has stated that it has been provided with subsidies for commercial banana, mushroom and vegetable farming. The farmers who have received the subsidies are benefiting by producing bananas, mushrooms and vegetables. Municipality Chairman Gaya Prasad Barai has allocated some budget for agricultural schemes to be distributed by himself. The budget to be distributed by the chairman is more than that of the agriculture department. The chairman has allocated 3.6 million rupees for boring, electricity and telegraph poles through various wards. ‘There are many problems with water and electricity in Marchwari,’ said Barai, ‘That is why we have allocated a lot of budget for boring and telegraph poles.’
Although there is a lot of cultivable land in Sammarimai, a neighbor of Marchwari, less budget has been allocated for agricultural schemes. Sammarimai has 4,530 hectares of farmland. According to the agriculture department in the rural municipality, the budget has not been finalized as this year’s budget booklet has not been published.
In 081/082, Rs 3 million was allocated for agriculture. Similarly, Rs 2 million was allocated for livestock. In 2080/081, Rs 3.5 million was allocated for agriculture and Rs 2 million for livestock. In 2079/080, Rs 6.8 million 0 thousand was allocated for agriculture and Rs 2.8 million 40 thousand was allocated for livestock. The municipality has been reducing the budget for agriculture and livestock every fiscal year.
Mayadevi Rural Municipality, which has earned fame in vegetable, banana farming, fish and livestock farming, has also been reducing the budget for the agriculture sector every year. According to Agriculture Branch Chief Shashi Dhungana, in 2082/083, the municipality has allocated Rs 27 million for agriculture and Rs 21 million for livestock. The municipality has allocated Rs 29 million for agriculture and Rs 25 million for livestock in 2081/082.
In 2080/081, Rs 40 lakh has been allocated for agriculture and Rs 1.6 million for livestock. Similarly, the municipality has informed that Rs 40 lakh has been allocated for agriculture and Rs 4 million for livestock in the financial year 2079/080. 'The budget spent by the agriculture branch is low,' said Chief Dhungana, 'Some of the budget is also being spent through the wards.'
There is also a budget received from the provincial ministry and directorate.' She said that the budget received by the branch has been decreasing every year compared to the past.
Mayadevi Rural Municipality Chairman Dhruv Narayan Chaudhary said that various crops are being produced commercially from ward number 1 to 8 of the municipality. 'There is immense potential for agriculture in the 7 wards of the municipality,' he said, 'Rice and wheat crops are cultivated in two seasons. Ward numbers 1 and 2 are famous for vegetables.' In addition to rice and wheat, banana cultivation is being done in Ward Nos. 6 and 7.’
He said that the rural municipality has been investing in the scheme by prioritizing the agricultural sector from the beginning. He said that due to the recent scattered budget spending, less expenditure has been seen through the branches.
