Nepal, July 23 -- The Commercial Agriculture for Smallholders and Agribusiness (CASA), a UK-funded programme, mobilized over Rs 830 million (5.37 million pound sterling) in private investment, while it connected more than 156,203 smallholder in the past six years.

The program that was launched in 2019 and implemented by NIRAS and Swisscontact Nepal, worked to address a persistent challenge underlying Nepal's agriculture sector. During this period, it focused on how to turn smallholder-based supply chains into commercially viable business opportunities. The program was expected to have provided 62 percent of the benefitted smallholder farmers to market access.

Although Nepal's agriculture sector has been providing employment to over 60 ...