Ghorahi. Bikas Khadka, a farmer of Tulsipur Sub-metropolis-19, Chillikot, has around 50 quintals of ginger in his field. At this time, we have to dig up the ginger in the garden and send it to the market. However, Khadka has not yet mined ginger due to lack of market price.

Khadka, who sold ginger at Rs 55 to 60 per kg in the same season last year, is now very upset with the market price. He said that he did not have the energy to dig ginger as the market price was Rs 30 to 35.

He has left other agricultural crops and planted ginger and is disappointed as he did not get the price this year. Khadka said, “We are not able to raise investment from the sale of ginger this year. He said that unseasonal rain has also caused some damage to ginger. Last year, he sold ginger worth two lakh rupees.

Pal Bahadur Khadka of Chillikot bought ginger seeds worth Rs 50,000 last year. But now he is also disappointed to hear the price of ginger. The interest rate of Rs 50,000 at the time of purchase of seeds has now reached Rs 65,000. He is worried about how to repay the interest on the loan taken to buy ginger seeds.

The locally produced ginger is not being sold as traders are importing ginger from India at a cheaper price. “There is a problem in repaying the seed loan. Selling ginger at the current price is not enough to repay the loan. Most of the farmers have started planting ginger in the hilly areas as they do not suffer from wild animals and earn good income. However, the farmers have been facing problems due to lack of compensation, said Purna Bahadur Pun, a local.

According to him, around 30 to 35 households in the district are involved in ginger farming. More than 600 quintals of ginger is sold annually from Chillikot alone. They hope that the local government will help in the marketing of ginger.