Chitwan. The demand for domestic production has increased as the import of bananas from India has decreased due to the tightening of quarantine by the government.

Ghananath Mahato, president of the Chitwan Banana Producers Association, said that there was a problem in the sale of bananas in the past years.

According to him, in the past years, the zeanine (green banana) was not sold but the birds were eating it. Also, it was difficult to get a good price even though Chinichampa got a market. Currently, ginine bananas are being sold at Rs 3 per bag, he said. According to him, farmers were facing problems due to non-sale of ginine bananas during festivals including Dashain, Tihar, and other festivals.

He said that the Chinese banana also got a good price. This banana is currently being sold for Rs 600 per house. According to him, the farmers are relieved to get market and price for the locally produced bananas.

Bishnu Hari Panta, coordinator of Federation of Nepal Banana Producers, said that the import of bananas has been stopped with the government tightening the bio-food security. As a result, Nepali products have started getting market. “We have started tightening quarantine after the TR 4 disease was detected on bananas in Nepal,” he said. He said that the quarantine for imported bananas has been tightened since November 2.

According to him, banana farmers in Nepal have suffered a loss of Rs 600 million during the Dashain and Tihar season alone as quarantine has not made strict measures for organic food security. “Banana farmers are now enthused,” he said. If this situation continues, Nepal will become self-sufficient in banana within a year. He said that the situation of displacement of farmers has increased due to the tightening of organic food security.

Stating that consumers have been compelled to pay high price for bananas produced in Nepal, he urged the stakeholders to monitor the issue. “We have received information that consumers have been cheated by intermediaries,” he said. It needs to be monitored. ”

Mahesh Regmi, chief of the National Agriculture Modernization Implementation Programme Implementation Unit, said that the problem of banana produced in the district getting market and price has been removed. According to him, banana is being cultivated on two thousand hectares of land in the district. It produces 70,000 metric tons of bananas annually.

He said that the state is working to encourage local production by continuously tightening organic food security in quarantines.