Engaging more than 12 million population in agriculture that contributes just 24% of the gross domestic product (GDP) is one of the serious concerns for small developing countries like Nepal. Primarily, traditional labour-intensive agricultural practices, zero access to modern machinery, and irrigation issues, which demand energy, are the major impediments to improving productivity. Because of these issues, there is an increasing trend of internal and international migration in search of better opportunities to engage in other sectors. However, ensuring food security remains a paramount challenge in Nepal to feed the overall population of the country. In such a context, there is an urgent need to mechanize the agricultural sector to reduce the demand for an active population in agriculture to 2.5 million. The excessive use of technology, seasonal and off-seasonal production, and integration with renewable energy sources into the agricultural system ensure higher productivity, decrease labour intensity, and reduce imports to feed the population. Involving the remaining population in tourism, services, and processing businesses and enterprises helps to improve the GDP of the country.

For instance, less than 2% of the population in developed countries like the United States of America (USA), Japan, France, Switzerland, Israel, and many others engage in agriculture and contribute to a range of 1% to 2% of the national GDP. Mostly, they rely on high-tech automated machines, precision farming, biotechnology, irrigation, and processing equipment for postharvest preservation. Even in neighbouring developing countries such as Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and India, the percentage of people involved in agriculture is far less than our scenario, employing 43.5%, 26%, 42%, and 45%, respectively, with contribution to national GDP in the range of 10% to 15%. There is a need to reduce the percentage of people in agriculture by effective use of agricultural machinery, processing, and harvesting equipment.

In Nepal, productivity per unit of land and labour is very low due to manual and labour-intensive and climate-reliant agricultural practices. This could be improved by using precision farming, automation, AI-based crop monitoring, and climate-smart agriculture. As a result, fewer people would be required to produce the same or greater agricultural produce. Additionally, promoting entrepreneurship through policy intervention, grants, subsidized loans, training, and workshops helps to modernize this sector in order to diversify income sources and drive overall economic growth. Consequently, the surplus labour from the agricultural sector could be used for higher-value sectors like services, tourism, agri-processing, and the manufacturing sector. This will bring Nepal to the era of a vibrant economy, national growth, and overall prosperity.