Minister Bhusal urges to discourage import culture

Minister for Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal has urged not to promote import culture in order to promote the country's economy.

"Domestic products are also being imported. Let's not do that, let's not promote import culture, let's use locally produced food, let's change our behavior, and let's promote our economy.", she said this in a program organized here today on the occasion of the 69th anniversary of Irrigation Day. 

Minister Bhusal said that special emphasis should be laid on the promotion of indigenous products and consumption of local products as a trade deficit would create challenges in the economy. According to the Department of Irrigation, Nepal's agribusiness deficit had been around Rs. 250 billion in 2019-2020. It increased by 30 percent in 2021/22 to Rs. Rs. 325 billion, which has been a matter of great challenge. We need to discourage imports and promote domestic production to prevent further trade deficits. ”

Stating that the preliminary data of the recent census has brought about a change in the living conditions, Minister Bhusal said that the cultivable lands of the mountains and hills of the country would remain barren and the fertile lands of the Terai would be turned into settlements by fragmentation. She pointed out the need to develop policies to address the challenge of migration. 

Stressing the need to move ahead by formulating an integrated policy for the promotion of agriculture, hydropower, and tourism as the main economic base of the country is agriculture, Minister Bhusal expressed his commitment to providing irrigation facilities to all cultivable lands in the coming days.

Secretary at the Water Resources and Irrigation Sagar Kumar Rai and Secretary at the Water and Energy Commission Dinesh Ghimire said that the department has been actively involved in the implementation of policies and programs related to the irrigation sector of the country. He also stressed the need to strengthen the department in terms of resources and policies to discourage the country's agricultural imports. The former Director-General of the Department and outstanding staff were honored. Speaking on the occasion, Director General of the Department of Irrigation Sushil Chandra Acharya said that everyone's support was needed for the implementation of the programs put forward by the Department of Irrigation.