Farmers Response on Agricultural Service Delivery in New Federal System of Nepal (Published)
The objectives of the study were to assess the farmer’s satisfaction with agricultural services and the local government’s performance in delivery of agricultural services under the new federal system of Nepal. The responses of 300 farming households covering three local levels (100 farming households from each municipality) were collected during 2019 and 2020 to analyse responses. Based on the information obtained, a relative importance index (RII) was developed by using 16 parameters that were considered as performance variables in a Likert-type scale. Results showed that about one tenth of the respondents were highly satisfied; about two fifth were satisfied, and nearly half of the respondents were moderately satisfied with the agricultural services at local level. The RII analysis revealed that local governments are effective in providing agricultural services that are relevant to the farmers resulting in increased access to services along with implementation of agricultural related activities. Other positive changes include the timeliness of service delivery by the local level governments, which have also become more accountable in terms of service delivery. On the other hand, the respondents have felt lower levels of agreement related to the capacity of the local staff, the institutional mechanisms, and participatory planning and financial resource allocation for agricultural services. Thus, from a policy perspective, the findings suggest there is a strong need for strengthening local staff capacities, the formulation of appropriate policies, and the establishment of institutional mechanisms to ensure farmer’s participation at the local level planning process, and the prioritization of resource allocation to the agriculture sector to achieve improved agricultural service delivery and greater farmer satisfaction.
Citation:Bishnu Kumar Bishwakarma, Bishnu Raj Upreti, Durga Devkota and Naba Raj Devkota (2022) Farmers Response on Agricultural Service Delivery in New Federal System of Nepal, International Journal of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development Studies, Vol.9, No.1, pp.1-18
Keywords: Access, Capacities, Governance, Performance, Relative Importance Index, federal
Agricultural Functions, Institutions and Policies in the Context of Sectoral Restructuring in Nepal (Published)
The restructuring of the agriculture sector in Nepal has changed the overall governance system of the sector. In this context, we examined the current status and scenario of functions, institutions, and policies related to agriculture in order to illuminate further policy issues which require attention in the changed governance structures. A study was done in three Municipalities (one from Province 1, and 2 from Karnali Province), in Karnali Province overall, and at the Federal level. Qualitative methods, such as eight focused group discussions (FGDs), 50 key informant interviews (KIIs), and direct observations at selected institutions at all levels were undertaken to collect data. Findings revealed that the three tiers of governments have established institutions, and simultaneously are formulating policies according to their constitutional authority. However, the key findings from the FGDs and KIIs have clearly revealed that there is a distinct lack in coordination between the three levels of the governments. Furthermore, the deficit in institutional arrangements has been observed at Province level for several functions – such as the standardization of quality, implementation of regulations, and supply and management of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides. Another important observation is that the Federal level has heavy institutional structures with more implementation arrangements which contradicts the notion of decentralizing agriculture service delivery to local levels. The Federal level clearly needs to increase the support for establishment and strengthening of the institutional arrangements at local and provincial levels to ensure efficient agriculture sector federalization.
Keywords: Constitution, Governance, Unbundling, federal, local level, province