Compared to last year, potato production in the district has decreased. It is said that potato production has doubled in the north-western part of the district due to the non-availability of chemical fertilizers by the farmers.
Farmer Ram Kumar Nepal of Barhathwa Municipality-1 Hazariya said, “Potato production was low even last year. Due to not receiving manure on time, it has come down, even more, this year. Produced potatoes have not even found a market." He complained that the potatoes sown by buying seeds at Rs 25 to 30 per kg now have to be sold at Rs 15 per kg.
Farmers here have complained that the indigenous produce has not fetched a price as cheap potatoes have entered the Nepali market from India.
Farmers are selling potatoes to traders at Rs 16 per kg. Panilal Ram, a farmer of Bagmati Municipality-6, Rajghat, said, “There was a shortage of urea fertilizer at the time of planting potatoes. ”
Commercial potato farming is practiced in Hazariya, Rajghat, Barhathwa, Manpur, Shankarpur, and other areas of the district. In this area, red rose, Kupri Sindure, Vivire Ketu, and tender varieties of potato are cultivated.
Chief of the District Agriculture Knowledge Center Kamal Dev Prasad Kushwaha informed that potatoes will be cultivated in an area of 1,400 hectares in the district. Farmers of the district have complained that the potatoes produced in the district have to be taken to cold storage in Malangwa, Chapur, Birgunj, and Kalaiya for storage. Chief of the branch office of Krishi Samagri Company Limited, Deepak Thapa Magaral, said that there was no shortage of manure in the district.
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