In the first four months of the current Fiscal Year more than Rs 50 million millet production has been imported in Nepal.
According to the Quarantine Office, Kakarvitta, 1,610 metric tons of millet worth around Rs 1.5 million. In the same period last year, 1,570 metric tons of millet worth Rs 45.194 million was imported.
Devindra Sahu, senior crop protection officer at the Quarantine Office, Kakarvitta, said that millet is imported from Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Siliguri in India. He informed that 40 metric tons more millet has been imported this year as compared to last year.
Pawan Kumar Agrawal said that they used to buy and bring 7,500 kg of millet from India monthly through Moti International Sales Center in Birtamod Municipality-5. He informed that the millet imported from India is sold in 50 kg bags. Five other sales outlets like Agrawal have been importing millet from India and selling it in packaging in Nepal.
He said that Nepal was self-sufficient in Millet production from Hetauda till 20 years ago but after the production of millet stopped, Indian millet was brought and sold," he explained.
Shalikram Bhattarai, an economist at the Agriculture Knowledge Center, said that millet is being cultivated in only 950 hectares of land in Jhapa. He said that even though there is plenty of millet cultivation in the hilly and terai districts of Nepal, it is still not enough hence the reason it is imported from India especially for making liquor.
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