Kavrepalanchowk. Bethanchowk rural municipality has decided to provide 5 percent subsidy on loan interest to commercial farmers. The rural municipality has also approved the application given by the local farmers for this scheme to do business institutionally from the current fiscal year. The rural municipality has selected 24 agricultural firms to provide subsidy on entrepreneurship interest to commercial farmers.

For this, the rural municipality has signed an agreement with Bindhavasini Savings and Loan Cooperative Society based in the district to provide interest subsidy to the farmers for running agri-business. The office has conducted discussions and training to the officials of the selected agricultural firms on the rural municipality’s plan and the enterprises that the farmers want to do.

From the current fiscal year, the rural municipality will provide concessional interest subvention loan at a maximum of Rs 2 million per household for a minimum period of six months to a maximum of five years to make the locals professional by developing entrepreneurship.

According to the rural municipality, the programme is being implemented as per the Working Procedure-2080 BS related to interest subvention to provide commercial loans to local agricultural entrepreneurs. The rural municipality has started the campaign to make the youth and farmers involved in the policy and program professional to make the ruined land fertile and professional after the disaster of floods and landslides.

Rural municipality chair Bhagwan Adhikari said that the rural municipality has been identified as a self-reliant local level in the field of agriculture as most of the people here are involved in agriculture. It is believed that this program will help the local farmers to become entrepreneurs and professional farmers.

Similarly, the rural municipality has launched an interest subvention programme targeting the youths returning from foreign employment and to reduce the attraction towards foreign employment under the model program of Kavrepalanchowk. The rural municipality had selected a financial institution to cooperate in the flow of concessional loans as per the approved procedure for providing interest subsidy on commercial loans to make the citizens of the age group of 21 to 45 years entrepreneurs.

A concessional loan of two years will be provided for storage of agribusiness, spice crop seeds, production processing, recognized by the Government of Nepal. Similarly, processing and storage of vegetable products, seed production and storage, floriculture, fruit production-processing and storage, milk products processing and distribution, livestock and meat products management, herbal products processing and storage, sugarcane, millet, maize, cardamom, akbare, ginger, tea cultivation, storage and sale, beekeeping, barley, fapar, silam, beans, potato, lemon, apple, production storage and sale distribution. The subsidy will be provided on one year’s concessional loan for the production of vegetable crops, processing, storage and agricultural production and collection and distribution.