Bajura to be made self reliant in potato

BAJURA, April 9: The District Agriculture Development Office (DADO) has come up with new programs to change the very identity of Bajura, which is so far known for its food dependency on other districts. DADO will identify areas with potential for agricultural production and float a policy to make Bajura self-sufficient within the next four years.

Bajura is dependent on food items including vegetables and lentils.In the first phase of its program, farmers will be encouraged to grow potatoes, according to Dammar Datta Bhatta, information officer at the DADO. He informed that they have identified areas good for potato farming where they plan to start producing seeds.

They have already brought improved seeds from Kathmandu those will be used to produce more seeds. DADO will conduct potato farming in Kada, Jayabageshwari, Dogari and Aatichar VDCs and Badimalika Municipality-9 as pocket areas. They have brought 10,000 seeds from Kathmandu and plan to produce 100,000 seeds from them.

Potato farmers will be provided 75 percent grants while the ADO will bear the cost of importing the seeds. The ADO informed that they will not need to bring seeds from outside from next year.

Although the district produces around 7400 tons of potato a year, it still needs to import potatoes from outside.

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