Money
Kanchanpur exports vegetables worth Rs1m
More and more farmers in Kanchanpur are now embracing commercial vegetable farming with the hike in demand for the agricultural product in the surrounding districts and other urban centres.Bhawani Bhatta
More and more farmers in Kanchanpur are now embracing commercial vegetable farming with the hike in demand for the agricultural product in the surrounding districts and other urban centres.
Farmers of the district are now selling vegetables worth more than Rs1 million per day to buyers from other locations. As more and more buyers are rushing to the district, more and more farmers in Kanchanpur are switching to vegetable farming, ditching production of traditional crops, such as paddy and wheat.
Vegetable markets in Mahendranagar these days sell an average of 4-5 tonnes of vegetables per day. Many even purchase vegetables directly from farms.
According to farmers, vegetables produced in the spring season are mainly supplied to Nepalgunj, Butwal and the Kathmandu Valley. These vegetables include gourd, squash, bitter gourd and ladies finger. These vegetables are also exported to adjoining hilly districts.
Bishal Sonar, chairman of Mahendranagar Vegetables Market Management Committee, said the vegetable market alone exports an average of 10 tonnes of vegetables per day. Considering average price of vegetables at Rs10-12 per kg, vegetables worth over Rs100,000 are exported from the market.
According to farmers, contractors also take their trucks
directly to farms to transport
the agricultural product. With
the hike in supply of vegetables, prices of these green produce have also started dropping significantly in the recent days. Currently, gourd and squash are sold for Rs7-8 per kg, while prices of tomato and cucumber have dipped to Rs10 and Rs15 per kg, respectively.
The growing vegetable business has raised living standard of many farmers. They now do not hesitate to take risk and have started leasing land to expand vegetable production.
Devidutta Kalauni, officiating chief of the District Agricultural Development Office (DADO), said rise in production of seasonal vegetables has made the district self sufficient in vegetable production. According to him, many youths have also started to engage in vegetable farming. To attract the youths, the DADO has started providing free seeds to farmers who plant vegetables in up to 50 hectares of land.
The DADO record shows that 1,500 hectares of land in the district is being used for vegetable farming. Each hectare of land in the district grows approximately 14 tonnes of vegetables. Raikvar, Krishanpur and Shreepur villages in the district are popular for vegetable production.