Government to Establish Minimum Support Prices for Key Crops Within 30 Days

Kathmandu. The government is set to initiate the process for determining the minimum support price for major food crops within 30 days. This is mentioned in the one hundred programs related to governance reform approved by the Council of Ministers in their meeting on Chaitra 13, aiming to resolve the issue where farmers incur losses due to uncontrolled market fluctuations when there is no minimum price security for major agricultural produce.

The program mandates that payments for the purchase of agricultural produce from farmers must be made within a maximum of 25 days on credit to ensure fair pricing. A directive will be immediately issued requiring payment with interest if the payment is not made within this period. To strengthen market access for agricultural produce, a National Agricultural Market Information System will be operationalized, and daily price information will be delivered to farmers via SMS/digital means. The local levels will be facilitated to operate weekly agricultural markets in every municipality. Furthermore, the 'One Municipality One Cold Storage Center' program is being launched to improve the storage and marketing of agricultural produce.

A feasibility study for establishing cold storage centers in every district through public-private partnership will be conducted within 10 days. A program has been designed to issue Soil Health Cards to farmers operating commercial agricultural farms within three months. The integrated digital census collection and certification of landless squatters and unauthorized settlers across the country will be completed within 60 days.

To resolve the landless squatter and unauthorized settler problem within one thousand days, a household survey will be conducted in coordination with local levels. Clear criteria (cut-off date, income level, ownership of other assets) will be implemented to identify genuine beneficiaries. Records of public, vacant, and Guthi lands will be updated, mapped, and a GIS-based digital database will be prepared. Arrangements will be made to provide land in a phased manner to the identified genuine squatters.

Resettlement through integrated housing will be arranged as an alternative in densely populated urban areas. A public dashboard will be operated to make the land distribution and resettlement process completely transparent, and the coordination, monitoring, and implementation of the entire program will be conducted under the direct supervision of the concerned ministry.

The governance reform program mentions the immediate commencement of preparing a digital record, strengthening the monitoring system, and removing encroachments to conserve public land and control encroachment. The government has also put forward a program to launch a special campaign to strictly stop new encroachments and remove illegal occupations. The program includes provisions for starting an investigation within 15 days regarding the encroachment and misappropriation of land belonging to the Nepal Children's Organization, based on the report of the High-Level Inquiry Commission on the Nepal Children's Organization (Haribabu Commission).