Kavrepalanchok. Farmers in Kavrepalanchowk are digging potatoes from their fields. Despite the increase in production, farmers here are worried due to lack of market to sell potatoes.

Farmers are now digging potatoes in Panchkhal, Mandandepur, Nala and Panauti areas, which are major vegetable producing areas in the district. Sacks of potatoes are piled up all over the fields. There are also potatoes on the side of the road. But the farmers are not happy. The market price is falling. Traders have also stopped coming to the farms.

“The price of potatoes has gone down, but traders do not come to their farms, we are compelled to call the traders to sell the potatoes,” said Rameshwor Sapkota, a farmer of Dhunganabesi of Panchkhal municipality-6. According to him, potatoes are being sold at Rs 7 to Rs 10 per kilogram.

Farmers are in a dilemma whether to dig or not to sell potatoes when they have to sell them at a cheaper price. Sapkota says, “There is no price for the food, there is a fear of rotting the food.” Sapkota, a potato farmer, said that it would be difficult to recover the cost as the price of potatoes has fallen this year. According to him, some farmers have been forced to leave the potatoes at the price of the traders as they have not sold their potatoes at the Kalimati market of Kathmandu. Therefore, the investment of farmers is at risk.

The cost of potato farming is higher than other crops. The cost of land preparation, organic and chemical fertilizers, potato seeds, irrigation, medicines and human resources costs Rs 18 to Rs 20 per kg. In the same period last year, the price of potato was Rs 28 to Rs 35 per kg.

“The potatoes were sold at Rs 10 per kg to the traders for fear of rotting in the field÷,” said Bijaya Parajuli, a local.

According to the Agriculture Section of Panchkhal Municipality, potato farming is done on around 70,000 ropanis of land in the municipality. More than 90,000 metric tons of potatoes are produced annually in Panchkhal, said Hemanta Poudel, chief of the branch. According to him, due to the fall in market price this year, farmers are estimated to lose around Rs 63.70 crore as compared to the total cost price. Damodar Adhikari, a local, said that the problems of farmers could be resolved if the government fixed proper price of agro products, made arrangements for storage, market management and developed potato processing industry.

In Mandandepur town, farmers can be seen digging potatoes without rain, clouds and sunshine. Pashupati Shrestha, 82, of Mandan Farm in Mandan Municipality-10 said, “This year, the yield of potatoes has almost doubled compared to last year. ”

The number of farmers engaged in commercial potato and vegetable farming has been increasing in the area for the past 10 years. Narayan Shrestha, a local farmer, said potato was planted in 200 ropanis of land in the area. He has been cultivating potatoes in around 12 ropanis of land for the past five years.

Shrestha said, “Last year, we produced 60 sacks of potatoes in the same land, but this year we have produced more than 120 sacks. At present, potato is being cultivated in thousands of ropanis of land at Jwanetar, Jogitar, Maitar, Kuntabesi and Chakhola of Mandandeupur.

According to the District Agriculture Development Office, 189,078 metric tonnes of potato is produced annually in 9,163 hectares of land in Kavrepalanchowk.

According to the data, 35 per cent of the vegetables produced by the farmers in the district have been diverted from Kavrepalanchowk even when the consumption is supplied to the market in Kathmandu, the federal capital. Kul Prasad Dawadi, chief of the office, said that potato is at the top among them.