KATHMANDU, NOV 07 - Leading donor country Japan has decided to scrap its support on fertilisers that it had been extending to Nepal for the last 26 years.
Talking to The Kathmandu Post, a senior official at the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives (MoAC) said that the government recently received a letter from the Japanese side that mentioned the cancellation of Japan’s annual fertiliser grant programme called 2 KR for Nepal.
Despite the recent scrapping, Nepal will, however, receive one more annual fertiliser grant from Japan for the next plantation season.
With this latest Japanese decision, Nepal will lose hundreds of millions of rupees annually that it used to receive under the 2 KR fertiliser programme. And this decision is feared to bring more disorders in the fertiliser supply network of the country that already has been hit hard by the huge illegal inflow of subsidised fertilisers from India.
In its letter sent to the MoAC, Japan has mentioned that "various reasons" have led it to revoke the 2 KR fertiliser programme for Nepal. But Japan has not clarified any specific reasons for its latest decision, a MoAC source informed The Kathmandu Post.Currently, Japan is only the donor country to provide grants to Nepal for fertiliser. During the last fiscal year alone, Japan provided Nepal with more than Rs. 300 million under the 2 KR scheme, as per the official’s disclosure.
The latest decision from Japan comes at a time when the country continues to face shortage of fertilisers during peak paddy plantation season. Even during June and July of this year, Nepal’s eastern parts were reported to have faced an acute shortage of fertiliser, thereby adversely affecting the local farmers.
Senior government officials also admit the withdrawal of 2 KR fertiliser programme by Japan could bring acute fertiliser shortage in Nepal. "This sudden scrapping of the 2 KR programme by Japan is certain to invite problems to Nepali farmers who had relatively easy availability of agro-productivity-enhancing chemicals from the Japanese side," he added.
Meanwhile, the source also disclosed that the government was planning to broadly discuss the issue with Japanese officials soon. "The government wants to discuss the reasons for the programme being cancelled, and will try its best to convince Japan to resume the fertiliser grant programme to Nepal," the source added.Posted on: 2003-11-06 08:04

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