The state-owned Nepal Food Corporation is planning to bring 2,500 goats into Kathmandu to address the demand for meat during Dashain.

Goat meat is one of the most favoured items during the country’s biggest festival. According to NFC officials, 1,500 goats would be brought from Makwanpur and Dang, while 1,000 mountain goats would be shipped from Mustang.

Last year, the corporation had brought into the Valley 3,000 goats. Officials said the NFC decreased the number since the private sector supplies most of the meat for the festival.

The NFC aims to supply meat at cheaper rates to control prices when the demand for meat is the highest, said Shankar Sapkota, spokesperson for the corporation. An estimated 50,000 goats are sold in Kathmandu for the two weeks of festivities.

The NFC goats will arrive in the Valley from September 6. It takes a week to bring mountain goats from Mustang to Kathmandu as they are walked down to Myagdi, before being transported on trucks. Nearly a dozen staffers have been mobilised for the purpose.

Sapkota said their price will be fixed within next week after a meeting with the chief district officer, veterinarians and farmers who sell the animals. Live goats are sold from the NFC’s outlet in Thapathali, Kathmandu.

Last year, the corporation had fixed the price at Rs434 per kg for goats weighing less than 25kg. 

Goats weighing more than 25kg were priced Rs445 per kg and mountain goats Rs630 per kilogram.

Last year, the NFC sold goats Rs15 cheaper per kg compared to the market price.

Meanwhile, the NFC, in association with the Nepal Salt Trading Corporation and the National Diary Development Board, is going to run fair price shops in various parts of the Valley starting from September 3. The outlets will open in places including Thapathali, Koteshwor, Teku, Balkhu, Nakkhu and Ramshahpath to sell daily essentials.