Agriculture Intensification and Economic Growth : Nepalese Agriculture Perspective Plan

Agriculture development has been main strategy to address the poverty and economic growth against the backdrop of structural adjustment program in developing countries. The international agencies and donors push for agriculture intensification through policy change prioritising fertiliser, irrigation and infrastructure development to generate more economic surplus from agriculture for overall economic growth of agrarian economy. This paper is an attempt to analyse a long term strategy of Nepal, namely Agriculture Perspective Plan, an effort of orthodox agencies to transform subsistence mode of production into commercial one. The focus of the study is to see the outcome of plan by comparing two different periods 1995/96 and 2010/11, taking a case of a Rupandehi district of Nepal. The findings show that the plan may have been consistent in some aspects of agriculture development however, is unable to match its expectation to contribute overall economic growth due to its lesser preference in understanding Nepalese life. Relevance to Development Studies This paper revolves around agriculture intensification, economic growth debates under agrarian political economy and attempting a critique on the state development strategy through taming nature excluding local conditions.