JHAPA, May 23: Traders have imported melons worth Rs 46.13 million from India through the eastern transit point's Kakarbhitta checkpoint during 10 months of the current fiscal year 2024/25.
Ishwarkumar Humagain, information officer at the Mechi Customs Office, said importers brought a total of 1,765,090 kilograms of melons into the Nepali market during this period. The market favors melons as a delicious fruit that provides cooling relief in the summer. Although local farmers cultivate melons commercially, the large volume of imported melons from India has overshadowed domestic production.
Kakarbhitta reaches last four
In the past 10 months, traders imported the highest quantity of melons from India in Chaitra (mid-March to mid-April), totaling 510,230 kilograms worth Rs 13.37 million. According to customs data, traders brought 230,850 kilograms of melons worth Rs 6.05 million into the Nepali market through Kankadbhitta in Shrawan, the first month of the current fiscal year. They imported 186,140 kilograms worth Rs 4.89 million in Bhadra (mid-August to mid-September); 141,450 kilograms worth Rs 3.72 million in Ashoj (mid-September to mid-October); 81,240 kilograms worth Rs 2.13 million in Kartik (mid-October to mid-November); 55,780 kilograms worth Rs 1.46 million in Mangsir (mid-November to mid-December); and 47,260 kilograms worth Rs 1.24 million in Poush (mid-December to mid-January).
Similarly, traders imported 85,710 kilograms worth Rs 2.23 million in Magh (mid-January to mid-February); 173,789 kilograms worth Rs 4.48 million in Falgu (mid-February to mid-March); 510,230 kilograms worth Rs 13.37 million in Chaitra; and 252,650 kilograms worth Rs 6.58 million in Baishakh (mid-April to mid-May) through Kankadbhitta into the Nepali market.
For the past few years, farmers in Jhapa have been commercially cultivating melons. However, local producers struggle to compete with the prices of melons imported from India, which causes sales problems, said Leela Khanal, manager of Nepali Babu Smart Agriculture Farm in Mechinagar-15. Khanal and her partners cultivate melons on 13 bighas of leased land. Last year, the farm produced 350 metric tons of melons.
