Identity cards for farmers soon, distribution to start with registered farmers

The government is preparing to soon distribute identity cards to registered farmers. Distribution will begin through the Agriculture Communication and Human Resource Development Centre, starting in municipalities where farmer registration has been completed.

In the first phase, preparations are underway to distribute ID cards from Kathmandu, Dr. Sanjiv Pandit of the centre said.

Farmers who receive the cards will be able to easily access services such as subsidies, agricultural insurance, relief, production incentives, mechanisation, technology transfer and concessional agricultural loans. The centre says the cards will help make records of each farmer's land, planted crops, livestock and irrigation facilities data-based.

The government has introduced the system under the Farmer Registration Programme Implementation Procedure, 2077 BS, and the Farmer Registration System Management and Operation Directive, 2081 BS. About 2.6 million farmers have been registered nationwide so far.

Meanwhile, Santa Bahadur KC, president of the National Farmers' Group Federation in Karnali Province, has asked the provincial government to extend categorised ID cards to other municipalities. According to him, categorised ID cards have already been distributed to about 6,000 farmers in Lekbeshi Municipality of Surkhet.