Farmers in Chitwan struggle as vegetables fail to fetch fair prices

Chitwan. Farmers are in distress as commercially produced vegetables in the district are not fetching appropriate prices. Farmers here are worried as the vegetables produced here are not even covering their production costs.

Lakshmi Ranabhat of Budhichok, Bharatpur Metropolitan City-25, who has been commercially cultivating vegetables for the past 20 years, said that currently, vegetables like long beans, cucumbers, snake gourds, and bitter gourds are not getting a fair price. She said, “We are forced to sell most vegetables at Rs 5 per kilogram.”

She, who cultivates vegetables on twelve bighas of land, said that she and other farmers are suffering due to the lack of fair prices for vegetables. According to her, farmers are now forced to leave vegetables in their fields. She stated that even the money to pay laborers is not being recovered.

Farmer Sumina Thapa also shares similar grievances. She cultivates vegetables on 2 bighas of land. She is currently growing long beans, cucumbers, and snake gourds in her field. She has kept the harvested long beans from 10 katthas of land as they are, after not getting a price for them. She said, “When vegetables don't get a price, we see middlemen getting rich.” Farmers are unable to sell vegetables as the price difference between farmers and consumers is huge.

According to her, farmers have stopped harvesting vegetables even with laborers because they are not even getting back the production cost. Farmers are preparing to form a farmers' struggle committee and protest due to vegetables not fetching fair prices, said Ishwari Neupane, coordinator of the struggle committee.

Neupane said, “What is bought from farmers for Rs 5 to Rs 10 per kg is being sold to consumers for Rs 70 to Rs 80.” He stated that they have also understood the consumer prices in the market and that farmers are now preparing to take actions that might lead to vegetables not being available in the market. He mentioned that the cost of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, labor, irrigation, and transportation is not being recovered.

He also urged the state to set a minimum support price for vegetables. He stated that while imported vegetables are finding a market, locally produced vegetables are not getting a price. He informed that if a vegetable cold storage facility is established here, the produced vegetables could fetch a good price.

According to the National Agriculture Modernization Project Implementation Unit, Chitwan, vegetable farming is currently being carried out on 770 hectares of land in the district, known as a vegetable zone. A thousand farmers are participating in this. Mahesh Regmi, head of the unit, said that farmers are currently worried due to not getting market prices.