Majority of Bagmati Province Families Struggle to Rely on Agriculture for Full-Year Income

Over 55.9 percent of the families in Bagmati Province generated agricultural incomes which are not enough for them to sustain throughout the year, according to the agriculture census, 2078 carried out by the National Statistics Office. Only 44.1 percent of families can sustain throughout the year from their agricultural incomes, said the census.

The main income source of people in Bagmati Province is agriculture. Traditional agricultural technologies have been replaced by new ones. According to the Office director Badri Kumar Karki, 14.8 percent of farmers use iron ploughs to till the land, 30.8 percent tractors and 16.7 percent power-tiller.

Out of over 1.5 million families in the province, 668 thousand 177 are farmers, and 282,292 hectares of land have been used for agricultural purposes, he said.

Mango has been cultivated on 532 hectares of land, banana on 1,120 hectares, orange on 688 hectares, lemon on 460 hectares and apple on 80 hectares. Compared to the previous census in 2068 BS, the number of farmers who have reared goats and pigs has increased than those who raised cows and buffaloes, he said.

The province has 66.4 percent of farmers who themselves use products they grow, and 25 percent also sell their products.