Kathmandu, Aug. 20:The World Bank (WB) states that agricultural development is one of the most powerful means to end extreme poverty and hunger and boost shared prosperity.
According to the international financial institution, growth in the agriculture sector is two to four times more effective in raising incomes among the poorest compared to other sectors. “Agriculture is also crucial to economic growth: accounting for four per cent of the global gross domestic product (GDP) and in some least developing countries, it can account for more than 25 per cent of GDP,” the WB states.
And Nepal is one of those developing countries where agriculture provides employment opportunities to around 65 per cent of the population and contributes about 27 per cent to the GDP.
Nepal has been investing in the agriculture sector for years. And since the institution of local-level governments in 2015, agriculture has been a priority at many of the 753 local levels.
However, experts stress that there was less investment and concern towards agriculture despite agricultural sciences and technology evolving day by day.
Teachers and officials of schools, institutes, campuses and universities providing agriculture education say that the country was producing a number of educated manpower in the agriculture sector. However, the country was unable to utilise them.
Moreover, despite being an agricultural country, there are not enough platforms to retain manpower within the nation.
Development of agriculture education
Educated agricultural manpower has been produced in the country for decades. Junior Technical Assistants (JTAs) in agriculture was one of the first courses of agricultural education started in Nepal from the School of Agriculture under the Agriculture Ministry in 1957.
Later, a two-year Intermediate of Agricultural Science (I.Sc. Ag.) programme was started but has been phased out. There are now short-term, pre-diploma, diploma, Bachelor, Master’s and PhD courses in agricultural education.
The Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) paved the way for mid-level courses through community and private schools and the establishment of the Agriculture and Forestry University (AFU) in Chitwan in 2010 showed the importance of higher education in agriculture.
Until then, Tribhuvan University (TU) had been providing higher courses under the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science (IAAS).
“There were a handful of institutions to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in the agriculture sector including fisheries, veterinary and forestry, until some years ago. There used to be a tough competition. Chitwan used to be filled with aspirants from across the country. Now, the scenario is different,” said Sandesh Ghimire, a student pursuing his Master’s degree in fisheries at the Agriculture and Forestry University (AFU) in Chitwan.
The AFU has its central campus in Rampur and eight constituent campuses across the country. Over half-a-dozen private agriculture campuses have received affiliation from the AFU.
Similarly, the IAAS has five constituent campuses, while four other campuses have received affiliation from the TU. “After TU and AFU, Purbanchal
University, Kathmandu University, Far-Western University and
Mid-Western University have also started Bachelor-level agriculture education. Currently, there is a lot of educated manpower being produced in Nepal’s agriculture sector,” said Nabin Bhattarai, Director at the Morang-based Girija Prasad Koirala College of Agriculture and Research Centre (GPCAR) which has received affiliation from the Purbanchal University.
Moreover, there are now around 200 institutions providing a variety of courses and degrees in agriculture, and thousands of professionals are being produced annually.
Attraction of CTEVT courses
With around 50 short-term courses in agriculture, CTEVT provides pre-diploma courses in agriculture (plant science), livestock/animal health, veterinary science and textile and sericulture JTA.
As per the government’s initiative to have at least one technical course at the school level in local levels, the pre-diploma course in plant science has been provided through more than a hundred government and private institutions.
According to the CTEVT, 2,366 students got enrolled in the pre-diploma plant science and 2,488 students got enrolled in the diploma course of plant science across the country in the academic year 2021/22. Other than in plant science, 2,032, 94 and 677 students got enrolled in the diploma courses of animal science, food and dairy technology and forestry respectively.
“Children’s attraction towards agricultural education is clear from the increase in the number of institutions providing agricultural courses even in the remotest parts of the country,” said Bhuvaneshwor Dhungana, spokesperson for the CTEVT.
As reported from districts like Okhaldhunga, Sankhuwasabha, Baglung, Dadeldhura, Surkhet and Jumla, among others, students pursuing pre-diploma courses in agriculture have been earning while learning.
For instance, Jana Jyoti Secondary School in Surkhet district provides pre-diploma courses and has its own fish pond, poultry farm, herb processing centre and an agriculture farm for the students to gain practical knowledge.
According to the schools providing such courses, students are happy to work in the field for practical experience, interact with local farmers, and earn some money by selling the produce cultivated as part of their practical education.
Bachelor level less appealing
As the National Education Board (NEB) has published the results of grade 12 recently, universities providing a degree in agriculture education, alongside others, have started opening schedules for entrance examinations.
“Now, there are more than 2,000 seats for a Bachelor’s degree in agriculture throughout the country. Students mostly prefer the central and constituent campuses of the universities. Many institutions are struggling to fill their quotas,” said Subodh Khanal, campus chief of the Jhapa-based Gauradaha Agriculture Campus, a constituent campus of the IAAS.
University and campus officials with whom The Rising Nepal talked said that the attraction towards Bachelor degrees in agriculture education was declining with a production of a large number of manpower and a lack of platforms and opportunities to earn a decent livelihood.
“The government formed the AFU as a designated university for agricultural education. This sector was well managed in the beginning. Even the quotas were decided after the National Planning Commission consulted with stakeholders and collected data on the required number of manpower,” said Punya Prasad Regmi, Vice Chancellor at the AFU.
According to Regmi, the rampant rise in the number of agriculture campuses in affiliation with other universities has increased studying opportunities but the quality of education has declined.
“Agriculture is a sensitive sector despite how much we ignore it. Pursuing a Bachelor’s or a higher degree takes time and effort. It should be rewarding in the end. However, there are not enough rewarding platforms within the country. This is why campuses are unable to fill their quotas despite stating that the attraction towards agricultural education has increased,” Regmi told The Rising Nepal over the phone.
Unable to retain manpower
Even when tutors argued that the number of agricultural institutions was on the rise unnecessarily, they stressed that there was a high chance that a pass-out student is well qualified.
“An undergraduate from an agriculture campus looks for a stable and rewarding opportunity within the country. There is a high chance s/he does not find one and flies abroad for a better future,” said Ghimire, a first-semester M.Sc. Fisheries student of AFU.
Ghimire, a resident of Chitwan, also pursued his Bachelor’s degree from the AFU. He is currently working in Rautahat, which is more than 180 kilometres away from Chitwan, for a fish feed company.
“We have to start earning after completing our Bachelor’s degree. We cannot stay jobless despite the sense of satisfaction of studying Master’s. Since there are fewer quotas for a Master’s degree in agriculture education, undergraduates prefer foreign countries,” Ghimire added.
According to Gauradaha Agriculture Campus’ chief Khanal, around 80 per cent of the undergraduate from agriculture education went abroad. “Foreign countries are highly exploiting the manpower we are unable to retain,” he stressed.
‘Earning while learning’ is a motto followed by institutions providing technical education. “It does motivate students towards the respective field. However, they should be ensured a similar, but more rewarding, platform after completing their education. Technical fields change with time and so does the graduated manpower,” said Dhungana, CTEVT’s spokesperson.
The AFU has also opened applications under the Nepal Young Bioentrepreneurs (NYB) 2023 programme by providing an award of up to Rs. 1.8 million to innovative minds of AFU Rampur and Hetauda Campus.
“We have also focused on ‘earning while learning’ to motivate students as there are no proper platforms outside the university to gain practical knowledge. As the outside sector continues ignoring agriculture education, it is AFU’s responsibility to not let its importance go in vain,” said Vice Chancellor Regmi.
“Educated manpower of this era seek to build their capacity even after they graduate and start working. There should be more research and investment in the agriculture sector to upgrade with time and utilise the knowledge at its best,” said CTEVT’s spokesperson Dhungana.
“Even the government jobs are not satisfactory. Agriculture graduates in government service would happily leave for an opportunity abroad. The main reasons include ability to utilise the knowledge and keep on updating oneself with time,” said Ghimire.
‘Job satisfaction of government agriculture officers working in the extension service of Nepal’, an article published in the Journal of Agriculture and Environment in June 2023 under the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD), states that the officers were found to be satisfied with four factors – physical facilities at the office, guidance and cooperation of/and relationship with supervisors/office chief/co-workers and welfare/retirement facility.
“The officers were, however, dissatisfied with capacity building and promotion opportunities while neutral to pay factor. Regarding the most preferred attribute of job satisfaction, capacity building and promotion opportunity ranked first,” read the study.
What has been done?
According to the agriculture officers, it was a headache to vaccinate cattle during the recent lumpy skin disease epidemic. If the government could have utilised the available agriculture manpower who have studied veterinary or animal science/health, damage from the epidemic could have been reduced, they argued.
“The AFU is planning to organise a national-level conference, which has become essential, on agriculture education to reach an agreement on how this sector should move forward for effective delivery,” said AFU’s Regmi.
He argued that agriculture education was not seen as a sector that requires proper inspection under set standards. “There is no policy to prevent an unnecessary increase in agriculture institutions without basic standards. Agriculture will continue to be the backbone of the world because we need to eat. The government should begin the process to address the prevailing problems with proper consultation,” he added.
Of many problems, stakeholders argued that the inability of the government to increase the number of vacancies with the addition of institutions and bodies had disallowed them to provide quality services with insufficient manpower.
When asked for information on how the government planned to produce enough manpower and utilise them effectively, officials at the MoALD, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security echoed that certain policies were implemented to increase job opportunities and many more plans were in pipeline.
“Vacancies in government jobs for agriculture graduates open time and again. However, the main problem is that there is not enough focus on commercial agriculture due to lack of dynamism on the part of the government. The agriculture sector has been neglected because everyone believes it will sustain itself,” said a high-level official at the MoALD under the condition of anonymity.
According to the official, the issue of increasing investment in agriculture has been suggested to the higher authorities by the ministry several times, but in vain.
“We are an agricultural country that imports food items worth billions of rupees. We have not utilised our manpower and available technologies effectively,” said Bhattarai, GPCAR’s College Director.
“We should invest more in agriculture because food shortage is a global and deepening problem. Farmers can be assisted by educated manpower to increase their yield with the help of technology. We can achieve self-dependency in food if we produce quality manpower as per necessity and use their knowledge by providing them with proper platforms, equipment and infrastructure ” Bhattarai added.
