Bikas Udhyami Hands Over Agriculture Statistics in Electronic Format to the Ministry of Agricultural Development

September 25, 2017, Kathmandu-Bikas Udhyami today handed over an excel file with agriculture statistics to the Ministry of Agricultural Development. Bikas Udhyami’s CEO, Mr. Santosh Gartaula handed over the file to Mr. Ram Krishna Regmi, Senior Statistician at the Ministry of Agricultural Development in a program organized at the Ministry's Seminar Hall. The file contains agricultural statistics from previously published, but now gone out of print rare books. Bikas Udhyami’s Nepal in Data team entered and cleaned the data after the Ministry of Agricultural Development had initiated an effort a few months back to turn the old data and statistics books into an electronic format. The electronic file covers the available 12 major agricultural indicators like Cash Crops, Egg Production, Fishery, Food Crops, Food Security etc. since 1968. With this handover, the reuse and sharing of data will be easier for the Ministry. In addition, it will also help in the formulation and implementation of evidence base agricultural policies. Furthermore, it will also help researchers, who want to do a comparative study of Nepal’s agricultural sector. Speaking at the event, Mr. Regmi expressed his gratitude on collaborating with the organization which is making efforts to strengthen the use and reach of data in Nepal. Meanwhile, Gartaula praised the Ministry for its attention and efforts to digitize data and make it user friendly.

Bikas Udhyami is a social innovation hub in July 2016, which seeks to support young Nepali to contribute to Nepal's development through practical and smart solutions. One of its initiatives is Nepal in Data, which aims to increase the availability and accessibility of development data on Nepal and enhance the awareness and use of data and statistics among government, civil society, academia, students, media and private sector. Bikas Udhyami’s www.nepalindata.com portal launched in January 2017, provides access to more than 1700 official government data covering various sectors of Nepal as well as data related news, resources and infographics.