Billions spent but little to show for Karnali’s organic agriculture drive

Karnali province's goal to transform into an organic agricultural region, announced in February 2018, has largely failed to materialize despite substantial financial investment. The provincial government allocated nearly 160 million rupees for programs aimed at promoting organic farming, including subsidies for compost transport and bio-pesticides, and support for fertilizer production industries. However, these efforts were often fragmented, small-scale, and lacked coordination, leading to elusive tangible outcomes. Over four fiscal years, from 2018-19 to 2021-22, 328.6 million rupees were designated for establishing high-tech nurseries to produce seedlings. Despite this, 23 nurseries constructed at a cost of nearly 100 million rupees now stand abandoned. Similarly, plans to establish biofertilizer and biopesticide factories in Surkhet and Jajarkot, backed by 20 million rupees in 2020-21, never came to fruition, with subsequent budget allocations discontinued. Further initiatives, such as organic agriculture model programs in 13 local governments funded with 5 million rupees each in 2019-20, have also stalled. In the fiscal year 2020-21, 15 million rupees were allocated to set up rapid pesticide testing laboratories in Surkhet and Salyan. Buildings and infrastructure were completed, with around 7 million rupees spent on each. An additional 2.9 million rupees were allocated the following year for equipment. However, the failure to recruit the necessary staff has left these facilities unused and deteriorating. Collectively, federal and provincial governments spent 1.97 billion rupees on organic agriculture programs in fiscal year 2020-21, yet visible results remain scarce. While the provincial government has again included laboratory operations in its policy for the upcoming fiscal year 2026-27 and allocated funding, the past failures cast doubt on future success. In the current fiscal year, 61.8 million rupees were allocated for organic agriculture, indigenous crops, and livestock promotion, with nearly 90 percent already spent, but the overall impact remains questionable.