Veg transportation resumes in Chitwan

CHITWAN, May 7:  Normal transportation of vegetables resumed in Chitwan from Friday.



Farmers in the district have started to ready their produce and dispatch them to the collection centers for local consumption as well as for sales to the capital and other markets, after the UCPN (Maoist) on Thursday decided to allow vegetable carriers to ply on the road.[break]



“Two truckloads of vegetables left for Kathmandu on Thursday night itself,” said Chudamani Gartaula, president of Rural Fresh Vegetables and Fruits Producers Co-operatives at Bhandara.



The indefinite strike called by UCPN (Maoist) had forced the transporters off the road for five days. This had caused a huge volume of vegetables to decay in the farms and collections centers, inflicting huge loss to the farmers.



Irked by the loss and lack of response from the Maoist to their request to allow transportation of vegetables and milk, farmers had launched a protest by dumping their produces on the roads.



With the resumption of transportation services, Gartaula said the farmers in the eastern part of the district dispatched two trucks of vegetables to Kathmandu on Friday afternoon. He told Republica that the local farmers were also preparing to dispatch as much as ten truckloads of vegetables to the Kathmandu Valley by Friday night. To fulfill this target, farmers have busied themselves in their farms from early morning. “The collection centers have started receiving vegetables from farms in the inner parts of the district,” said Gartaula.



There are more than 1,500 farmers involved in vegetables farming in the eastern part of Chitwan.



Fresh Vegetables Producers Co-operatives officials said that the farmers in the western parts of the district too are currently busy readying the vegetables for sales. “We could start plucking vegetables from Friday morning only as we got the news of Maoist decision late Thursday,” said Menaka Rayemajhi, vice chairman of Farmers Network in Gunjnagar.



She said that the Maoist´s mass movement and strike over the last five days destroyed as much as four quintals of vegetables in her network. “Rains over the last few days too have affected the fresh productions,” she said.



Despite the loss, farmers said they were happy over being allowed to resume their business as usual. Farmers in the western part of the district said they were also planning to dispatch three truckloads of vegetables to Kathmandu on Friday.



The vegetables market in Narayanghat too has started receiving vegetables for sales in the Kathmandu Valley.



Chitwan is among the leading suppliers of vegetables to Kathmandu, Pokhara and other cities of Nepal. Beans, bitter gourd, bottle gourd, brinjal, lady´s fingers, tomato and pumpkins are among the most produced vegetables during this season.



According to Chitwan Fresh Vegetables Producers Co-operatives, farmers in the district export as much as 22 truckloads of vegetables in markets outside the district. Ten large collections centers facilitate such trade. Chitwan alone consumes vegetables worth Rs 800 million per year.

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