Palungtar Municipality's 'Seed Loan from Farmers' Program Gains Popularity

Gorkha. The 'Seed Loan from Farmers' program operated by Palungtar Municipality in the district is gaining popularity. Chief Administrative Officer Sher Bahadur Bisi stated that most farmers in the municipality are now involved in the program, which began in the fiscal year 2081/82.

According to him, under the program, the municipality provides seeds to farmers, agricultural groups, and cooperatives with 100% subsidy. He informed that the municipality provides seeds of various types of cereals, indigenous crops, and spice crops according to the farmers' wishes.

“Seeds of paddy and maize are available under cereals, millet, buckwheat, black gram, and barnyard millet under indigenous crops, and ginger and turmeric under spice crops,” said Chief Administrative Officer Bisi. He added that farmer interest in the Seed Loan program is increasing.

Chief Administrative Officer Bisi stated that the provision is that farmers must produce seeds from the seeds provided by the municipality. “After a certain period, farmers have to return the seeds provided by the municipality on subsidy back to the municipality,” he said, “Farmers can return the same quantity of seeds provided by the municipality and sell the rest as they wish.” He explained that the Seed Loan program is operated by providing the seeds returned by farmers to other farmers.

“In the first year, the seeds required by the farmers have to be brought from outside. Gradually, as local production increases, the practice of seed loaning begins among the farmers,” he said. Palungtar has allocated NPR two lakh for the 'Seed Loan from Farmers' program in the current fiscal year 2082/83. The municipality has already published a notice inviting interested farmers to join the program.

Chief Administrative Officer Bisi mentioned that farmers who joined the program last year have already returned the seeds. The program is demand-based for the farmers. The municipality stated that the 'Seed Loan from Farmers' program is being operated specifically to promote indigenous crops in the municipality, support farmers' livelihoods, and make the municipality self-reliant in seeds.