Mustang. Potatoes worth Rs 628.2 million have been produced in five local levels of Mustang district.

According to the Agriculture Knowledge Centre Office, potato was produced in 478 hectares of land in the current fiscal year 2082/83.

According to Rajesh Gurung, chief of Agriculture Knowledge Centre, potato production has increased to Rs 118.4 million this year as the productivity and production area of potato has increased partially. According to the centre, 20.22 metric tonnes of potato was produced in the current fiscal year. Compared to the last year, potato production has increased by 18 hectares. Likewise, potato production has increased by around two metric tons per hectare in the current fiscal year as compared to the last year.

Centre chief Gurung said that farmers in the district were selling farm gate at Rs 65 per kg in the current fiscal year. He said the crop cutting method was carried out in collaboration with Agriculture Knowledge Centre and National Agriculture Modernization Project Implementation Unit in the presence of agro technicians at the local level.

According to him, the production data of high-yielding, medium and low-yielding potatoes has been collected by dividing Upper Mustang, Middle Mustang and Lower Mustang into three zones.

A total of 8,496 metric tonnes of potato was produced in 460 hectares of land in five local levels of the district last year, according to Agriculture Knowledge Centre. Last year, the district produced 18.38 per hectare of potatoes. Apple production in the current fiscal year has increased by 13.76 per cent compared to the last year, according to the Centre.

Likewise, potato production has increased by 1,169 metric tonnes in the current fiscal year, said Centre’s chief Gurung. Last year, the price of potato was sold at Rs 60 per kg in Mustang which has increased by five to Rs 65 per kg this year, he added. Of the potatoes produced in the five local levels of the district in the current fiscal year, 60 per cent was consumed outside the district, 30 per cent within the district and 10 per cent as seeds. Gurung said that one-third of the potatoes are consumed in hotels and restaurants here. Potato is also cultivated as an intercropping within the apple crop.

Mustang potatoes produced in the cold climate of the mountainous district are tasty and nutritious. It is customary to eat potatoes and vegetables, boiled and roasted in mustang. The local white potatoes produced here are very much liked by the consumers of the city and the tourists coming to the district. Whether it is in Thakali kitchens in the city market or in big star hotels, the demand for Mustang potatoes is high as it has already established itself among the general consumers. Ajit Thakali, a farmer of Jomsom in Gharpajhong-4, said that the demand for potatoes has increased after the Korala road has become easier in recent period.