Money
Kanchanpur veggie farmers export Rs1 million worth of produce daily
Vegetable farmers of Kanchanpur district are exporting fresh vegetable worth Rs 1 million daily to other districts. Production has surged due to the influx of locals who see vegetable farming as an attractive income source. This has allowed the district to export the surplus vegetables to other districts.Bhawani Bhatta
Vegetable farmers of Kanchanpur district are exporting fresh vegetable worth Rs 1 million daily to other districts. Production has surged due to the influx of locals who see vegetable farming as an attractive income source. This has allowed the district to export the surplus vegetables to other districts.
Vegetable produced in the district is exported to major cities like Nepalgunj, Butwal, Chitwan and Kathmandu along with Dhangadi, the temporary headquarters of Province Number 7.
Buyers visit the vegetable market in Mahendranagar to purchase vegetable for export. “There is inflow of 15 to 20 tonnes of vegetable in the market daily and half of it is exported,” said Bishal Sonar, chairman of Vegetable Market Management Committee at Mahendranagar. According to farmers, contractors also take their trucks directly to farms to transport the agricultural product.
Surge in production has also led to a fall in vegetable prices. Currently, the price of calabash, pumpkin, cucumber, tomato, eggplant, ladies finger and chilli has dropped due to excessive production. Due to excess production, farmers are facing difficulties in getting the market rate for their produce.
Fresh vegetable is cultivated on around 2,550 hectares of land in the district and per hectare productivity stands at 14 tonnes. The productivity of vegetables grown during spring season is high in the district.
According to Sagar Dhakal, senior agricultural development officer at District Agricultural Development Office (DADO), rise in production of seasonal vegetables has made the district self-sufficient in vegetable production. Farmers of the district have even leased public land at river banks to cultivate various vegetables. Productivity of vegetables like water melon, pumpkin and cucumber is high on such land.
Tara Prasad Chaudhary of Bedkot Municipality who is farming vegetables in a bigha of land has sold vegetable worth Rs300,000 in a month. He started farming green vegetable by leasing public land at river bank from the municipality. Like Chaudhary, four other locals of the municipality are involved in vegetable farming by leasing public land. On average, each of them sells 1 to 1.5 tonnes of vegetable daily.
The productivity of the vegetable, however, is likely to drop down in coming days due to damage done by the recent hailstorm. According to DADO, the hailstorm has damaged around 50 percent of the plants. “As a result, the productivity will drop down in coming days,” said Dhakal. “Farmers from northern part of the district have suffered more from the disaster.”