Mountains. Modi Rural Municipality has decided to provide grant to farmers to buy improved breed of cattle and buffaloes for commercial milk production.

The grant is to be distributed to encourage farmers who have not been able to start their business due to financial constraints and who have been doing business continuously. Baburam Puri, Chief Administrative Officer of the rural municipality, said that the rural municipality is going to provide grant for the purchase of cows and buffaloes from this year with the objective of making the rural municipality self-reliant in milk production and improving the living standard of commercial farmers.

According to Puri, farmers who buy each cow and buffalo will be provided Rs 25,000. Any cooperative, collective or individual commercial farm or any farmer within the municipality can receive the grant. According to the notice published by the rural municipality, the rural municipality has to provide a recommendation from the concerned ward office, a copy of the citizenship certificate, a five-year agreement letter or land ownership certificate.

Chairperson of Modi Rural Municipality, Hiradevi Sharma, said that the programme would encourage farmers to take up agriculture and livestock entrepreneurship at a time when the number of farmers involved in agriculture and livestock business is decreasing due to increasing youth migration, monkey menace and lack of market. He said that if the demand for the purchase of cattle increases, the plant will be increased next year.

Modi Rural Municipality, which has access to the Pokhara-Baglung road and blacktopped road to most of the ward levels, is considered fertile land for agriculture and livestock. Even now, farmers in Bajung, Deupur, Bhuktangle, Tilahar and other places are engaged in commercial cattle rearing, poultry and goat rearing.