Nawaraj Bhatta of Shreepur had earned Rs 50,000 from carrots planted in 3 katthas of land. Encouraged by last year´s earning, Bhatta had planted carrots in 5 katthas this year. To his disappointment, Bhatta found that price of carrots have come down significantly compared to last year.
“It seems that I won´t get even half of what I had earned last year,” said Bhatta.[break]
Chandra Prasad Adhikari of Shreepur had sold carrots at Rs 15 per kg last year. But this year, buyers are offering him just Rs 5 per kg. “I have no enthusiasm to harvest carrots. I can´t even get my production cost if I sell carrots at Rs 5 per kg,” Adhikari said, adding, “I would rather let carrots decay in the field.”
Bhatta said most of the farmers in the district planted carrots this year after it fetched good price last year. Carrots, which were sold at Rs 13-15 per kg last year, are presently selling at Rs 4-5 per kg,” he said. He attributed drop in prices to rise in production.
Chitwan farmers are not getting good price for other vegetables as well. Chudamani Bartaula, president of Fresh Vegetables and Fruits Producers Cooperative, said most of the farmers are suffering as they are not getting good prices for their produce. “We sold cabbage at Rs 6 per kg last year. This year we are hardly getting Rs 1.5 per kg,” Bartaula said, adding: “After they couldn´t get good price, many farmers have started feeding cabbages to their cattle.”
Bartaula said price of vegetables has gone down this year as production has increased not only in Chitwan but in other districts as well. “As production is much higher than the demand, price has fallen drastically this season,”
According to District Agricultural Development Office, winter vegetables are grown in around 34 hectares of land in Chitwan.
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