About a decade and a half ago, an official visit was made to various states of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by the Federation of Nepalese Industries and Commerce (FNCCI). Rowekar also got a chance to participate in the tour. The purpose of the visit was to explore the possibility of expanding trade and investment between Nepal and the UAE.

During the visit, there was a meeting with the then Minister of Foreign Trade Luwana Ween Khalida Al Esami. During that, he pointed out the possibility of joint investment in commercial agriculture with Nepal. The Federation of UAE Chamber of Commerce and FNCCI agreed that there is a possibility of exporting high-value agricultural products such as cardamom, tea, coffee, ginger, fresh vegetables, and fruits in the UAE, and a commitment was made to cooperate in this.

Just one year ago, during the official visit of Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani of Qatar to Nepal, in discussions involving the private sectors of Nepal and Qatar, it was emphasized that there is a high demand for agricultural products, water, herbs, spices and spice products in the Gulf countries and that these products should be produced in Nepal through joint investment .

Two years ago, during the visit of the Prime Minister of Nepal, in the meeting of the Nepal-Dubai Business Forum held in Dubai, the FNCCI said that there is a demand for agricultural products and herbs from the high Himalayan region in the world market, and there are more opportunities for investment in agricultural processing, and UAE investors were asked to invest. was . 

He had a clear statement that if Nepal wants to introduce Israeli agricultural technology, it will help as much as possible. Since he has a great experience with his country in effective and efficient irrigation technology, water resource management, high production method, post harvest, modern dairy farming, he had a formula that Nepal can cooperate strongly in technology transfer and exchange of experience in these areas. Israel has also been giving opportunities for agricultural fellowships to students who have studied agriculture in Nepal.

In the financial year 2080/81, agricultural products worth about 7.5 million worth of aromatic herbs, cardamom, soybeans, wheat flour, tea, coffee, fresh litchi, fresh vegetables were exported from Nepal to UAE. It can be estimated that roughly the same amount is exported to Qatar and other Gulf countries. It is a small export volume compared to the potential that we have. Till September 2022, only joint investment has come from UAE in two projects based on agriculture and forestry in Nepal .

You can reach all the countries of the Gulf region in a 4 to 5 hour flight from Nepal. Israel is a little far from Nepal. We have good diplomatic relations with all Gulf countries and Israel. Countries are also the main source of Nepal's remittance income. There are up to 12 direct flights from Kathmandu to cities like Doha in Qatar, Abu Dhabi in UAE, and Dubai. Nepal's agricultural products can be a good market only in the UAE, which has a population of about 13 million. Through these countries, the market for Nepali agricultural products can be easily expanded in any country in the world.

UAE has been collecting flowers and flower products from different Asian countries from Dubai Flower Center and exporting them to Europe and America. We also have the opportunity to deliver Nepali agricultural products to the world market in collaboration with such centers.

In 2023, the bilateral trade between Nepal and UAE was about 270 million US dollars . But bilateral trade does not seem to favor Nepal. That is, Nepal has a huge trade deficit. Even though the government of Nepal seems eager to expand the export of agricultural and natural products, especially in the areas where demand is increasing in the UAE market, it has not been realized that such a concrete initiative has been taken. The government should be a little more aware of such matters, and for this, the embassies of the respective countries should be made operational.

Low rainfall, high temperatures, poor soils and lack of natural waterways, scarcity of water resources and arable land, soil salinity, harsh environmental conditions, high production costs, agricultural pests and post-harvest losses are the major weaknesses of agriculture. Despite this, the UAE is also making extensive efforts to build a sustainable agriculture and livestock industry. While they are trying to work even in such adversity by spending a large amount of money to do something by themselves, there is a strong possibility that we can produce agricultural products according to the demand of the market there and export them there . When they themselves are saying that they are ready to cooperate, our state should not fail to capitalize it.  

Nepal has a huge potential to export grains, food items and fruits and vegetables like herbs, apples, custard apples, strawberries, akbare, kibbey, cherry tomatoes, baby corn and capsicum to the UAE . The environment is very suitable for agriculture. There are young people looking for work, there is enough land for agricultural production. If not, it is only the government's commitment and support to the working farmers.

Currently, it has been found that hundreds of businessmen who have returned from working in Gulf countries and Israel with experience in Nepal are working in various businesses including agriculture . Some are working in the production of products such as mulching, tap irrigation, green house construction, solar dryers, mushroom houses, polythene bags needed for nurseries, nets used to regulate temperature in agriculture, etc. An entrepreneur working in Nepal after returning from the Gulf states was saying, 'The government should have a policy to encourage those who have learned work from outside and worked with some capital.'

For this, he suggested that there should be a separate cluster arrangement in the industrial sector, concessions on lights, special branding for goods produced by returnees, incentives for export goods, job creation and respect based on production.     

Our budgets and programs come with billions of grants . Such subsidies do not reach the farmers' fields . The Minister of Agriculture himself was saying, 'In the last five years, 1 trillion 5 billion rupees have been spent on agricultural subsidies by the Ministry of Agriculture.' It is necessary for the government to be committed to take such subsidies to the real farmers . If we can control the middlemen and reach the farmers who are looking for the government's support, the entire agricultural sector can benefit and we can take a leap in agriculture. 

The government has taken up the policy program to make roads, highways and corridors based on green business to take a leap in agriculture. Encouraging the production and use of organic fertilizers, bringing programs to promote sustainable agricultural production systems and upgrading Nepali laboratories. In the modernization of agriculture, solutions based on modern technology such as connecting farmers to the market using the Internet and telecommunication technology and developing ecological systems such as e-hot market have also come together . All these are welcome . But what the farmers are looking for now is sufficient chemical fertilizers, irrigation and market assurance for the produced agricultural products. The policy and program seems to be silent on guaranteeing it. So that the next budget can be addressed in a way that the farmers feel.

FNCCI has suggested to bring a budget with agriculture as a top priority in every year's budget . From improving the standard of living of farmers to connecting agricultural products from the farm to the international market, the issue of the agricultural ecosystem has been continuously raised. 

President of FNCCI Chandra Prasad Dhakal proposed to bring a program from farm to creek in the upcoming budget in the discussion organized to suggest the budget in the presence of Finance Minister on 28th Baisakh. It was a very important proposal. We can understand that such an important proposal came from its leadership by understanding their intentions in the continuous dialogue, discussions and meetings with the Gulf countries. 

FNCCI insists, 'Nepalese agricultural production and water should be expanded in the Gulf countries . Himalayan water is in high demand in Gulf countries.  By making full use of the power of agriculture and the power of natural resources, we need to bring such programs to connect the markets of the entire Gulf countries to the fields of Nepalese farmers . For this, cold storage, X-ray machine and warehouse facilities should be provided at the airport to export agricultural products through more than a dozen flights to the Middle East from Nepal every day.