Prospects/Opportunities and potential of agribusiness in Nepal

1. Availability of diverse climate (diversity in climate):

a) High Hills: Livestock production (yak, sheep, goat, etc.)

b) Mid Hills: Tea, coffee, citrus, subtropical fruits as well as vegetables

c) Terai: It is a granary (store home of grains) of Nepal.

2. Availability of abundant labor (abundance labor):

– A vast majority of the rural population (about 80%) depends heavily on agriculture sector for income and employment.

– 65.6% of the labour force is involved in agriculture and women contribute almost 60% of agricultural labour force.

– This large portion of labour can be utilized in agribusiness activities so that agriculture would be transformed into a ‘dynamic growth rate’.

3.Changing government policy for import substitution and export promotion:

– Government policy to produce ‘high value’ crops, livestock for meat, egg, dairy products, high value vegetables,fruits, silk, honey for the export promotion and import substitution can be another opportunity for agribusiness for its promotion.

4. Increasing demand for organic input

5. Little or low exploitation/use of natural resources

6. Possibility of producing organic product for export

7. High potentiality of vegetable seed production and possibility of export (eg. Raddish seed in Bangladesh)

8. Comparative advantage of climate factors for apple, orange and vegetable seed production in mid-hills of Nepal. This can be extended for earning foreign currency.

9. Possibility of qualitative sericulture and honey farming due to climate suitability

10. High potentiality of livestock development at commercial scale at the mountain and maintaining the demand-supply relationship with crops of Terai and hills.

11. Possibility of exportable tea, coffee and cardamom production by maintaining the quality and increasing the production.