RUKUM, August 1: Farmers complain that the garlic produced in Chunwang Rural Municipality-9 located in Rukum 9-East, a pocket area of garlic, is not getting a fair price in the market.
Currently, the price of garlic in the market outside is Rs 50 to 60 per kg. Chunwanga’s garlic producing farmers want to sell garlic at the rate of Rs 100 per kg even as the price of garlic is not likely to rise above Rs 50 per kg.
Health benefits of garlic
Ganju Khadka, a garlic producer in Chunwang, said that since no one bought garlic at 100 per kilo, now garlic is stockpiled in households. He said that now he only has around 10 quintals of garlic. Khadka, who produced 18 quintals of garlic last year, said that now the production has decreased. He said that not even a little bit of garlic was sold due to not getting a proper price this year.
According to him, now every house in Chunwang has around 3 to 10 quintals of garlic. Chunwang's former ward president Pravesh Pun said that the farmers' garlic that was offered at the market price had been sold, but the garlic beyond the market price could not be sold. He said that if it is given at the market price, all the garlic in the village will be collected, but it is not possible to collect garlic at a higher price than the market price.
Thalraj Basnet, agriculture officer of the Integrated Agriculture and Livestock Development Office, informed Republica that 432,350 metric tons of garlic was produced in Chunwang this year. According to him, this production has increased by 12.13 percent compared to last year. Garlic has been cultivated in 72 hectares of land in Chunwang.
