[Nepal] Boost agriculture to reduce poverty

From The Rising Nepal
KATHMANDU, Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank Bijaya Nath Bhattarai has said the countries of the South-Asia region have no alternative to making their agriculture sector more productive so that it can effectively contribute to alleviate poverty, more precisely to eliminate the menace of extreme poverty of the entire region.

Inaugurating a five-day SAARC-level workshop on “Programme on Development of Rural Financing Institutions and Cooperatives” organised here today, Governor Bhattarai said Nepal Rastra Bank has been continuously working to expand financial services to the rural areas while also enacting appropriate polices and strategies to encourage and promote rural financial institutions in the Kingdom.

He also expressed the confidence that the views and experiences shared among the participants of the programme on various successful rural and micro financing models will be of great help in shaping policies and programmes for the future.

Finance Secretary Bhanu Prasad Acharya said the government has laid stress on human resources and infrastructure development in order to alleviate poverty from the country.

In his welcome address, General Manager of Agriculture Development Bank of Nepal said poverty has been deep-rooted not only in Nepal but also in rural parts of south Asia region and so it is the need of the day to fight against poverty through cooperatives and rural financing institutions.

Deputy General Manager Krishna Bahadur Kunwar and Associate Consultant of Centre for International Cooperation and Training in Agricultural Banking (CICTAB) D. Ravi also shed light on the importance and utility of the workshop.

Altogether 28 representatives from Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and hosts Nepal are taking part in the workshop organised by Nepal Rastra Bank, Agriculture Development Bank, Rastriya Banijya Bank, National Cooperative Development Board, Sana Kisan Bikas Bank Limited, Nepal Federation of Saving and Credit Cooperative Union and the CICTAB.