patterns of population growth in nepal - Institute for Social and ...

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Farmer co-operatives have gone up from 293
in 1975-76 to 713 in 1981-82. The total loan
disbursement by Agricultural Development Bank for
various agricul tural development activities has
also risen from 1.6 million rupees in 1964-65 to
256 million rupees in 1980-81. The increase in the
various inputs in agriculture over time has resulted
in the steady ri se in the index of agricul tural
production from 82 in 1961-62 to 115 in 1974-75 and
a further rise to 129 in 1981-82.
In spite of these achievements, the average
yield of agricultural products has remained stagnant
or declined. This has resulted in a decline in
per capita food (cereals) availability from 335 Kg
in 1961/62 to 257 Kg in 1981/82 (Table 6.1). There
has also been a deterioration in the distribution
of land holdings in Nepal despite the implementation
of land reform programmes in 1960s. '!'he study by
Lee and others on the distribution of ownership of
land holdings showed a very high level of Gin! coefficient
of 0.57 and 0.69 for 1961 and 1971, respectively
(Lee et.al., 1982&40). This problem
appears to have continued. even in 1981.
The sample