India on Tuesday agreed to open two quarantine posts in Vittamod, province 2 and Gauriphanta in province 7 in a bid to facilitate better implementation of quarantine measures and reduce hassles faced by traders, during a meeting with a Nepali high-level delegation led by Chakra Pani Khanal, Minister for Agriculture, Land Management and Cooperatives, in New Delhi , India.

“India has agreed to open quarantine posts in two locations in the east and western part of Nepal even though we urged them to open six posts,” said Khanal. The Indian government has also finalised the pilot project on organic farming and soil health for implementation in Nepal.

Khanal is on a five-day visit to India and is scheduled to visit Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa and National Centre of Organic Farming, Ghaziabad. He has been invited by India’s Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Radha Mohan Singh.

Among a number of agreements signed on Tuesday with India to boost Nepal’s agriculture sector, India has agreed to help Nepal with technical support for the development of tea sector.

In order to sort-out the longstanding issue on ginger trade, both sides agreed to facilitate the business through policy measures.

“To resolve the issues related to imports and exports of agricultural goods between the two countries, both sides agreed to hold a ‘joint working group’ meeting at New Delhi in July,” said Khanal.

During the inaugural Ministerial meeting of India-Nepal “New Partnership in Agriculture”, the two ministers discussed ways to strengthen cooperation in the agriculture sector such as agricultural research and education, arrangement for supply of fertilisers, mutual recognition of inspection, testing and certification system, trade facilitation measures, strengthening livestock services, veterinary research and development facilities, and promoting exchanges between the India Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC).

The press statement issued by Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, India said that Minister Singh expressed happiness that a pilot project on organic farming and soil health for implementation by India in Nepal has also been finalised.

Initiatives like Soil Health Card, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna, eNAM, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojna and among other programmes have been yielding positive results in India, said Singh, expressing hope that the visiting Nepali delegation gained fruitful knowledge that will help improve the agriculture sector in Nepal.

“Both countries are largely agrarian and agriculture has been identified by the two sides as an important area of bilateral cooperation for which we are committed to support Nepal,” said Singh.

He further added that India will be happy to share with Nepal its experience in implementing new initiatives for enhancing agricultural productivity and welfare of farmers.

On Khanal’s invitation, Singh is scheduled to visit Nepal for the next ‘New Partnership in Agriculture’ meeting, the statement reads.

The prime ministers of Nepal and India had launched the ‘new partnership in agriculture’ on April 7, 2018 to increase bilateral cooperation in agricultural sector for the benefit of farmers of both the nations.