Farmers here are worried after the hailstorm that hit the highlands of Dolakha last week (Chait 13) damaged potato farming. Farmers are worried that their main cash crop, the hailstorm, will not even pay off this year. Ramkaji Khatri of Vaityashwar Rural Municipality-8, Ebo, said that the hailstorm damaged the potatoes planted in more than 20 ropanis when they were about to sprout. He, who has been making a living from potato farming, is worried that he will not get a return on his investment this year.

‘The hailstorm hit the potato farming when the sprouts were sprouting, all the farming has been ruined,’ he said, ‘Whether the potatoes sprout again or not, the investment will not even pay off.’ He said that he has been selling potatoes worth up to Rs 5 lakh annually.

In Ebo alone, 135 families depend on potato farming. They have been cultivating potatoes on more than 2,000 ropanis. This year, they had planted 18 tons of potato seeds.

‘Will the government compensate if the crop is destroyed by a natural disaster?’ he asked. He said that the rural municipality chairman had come to see the potato fields damaged by hail and had gone to see something.

Kamala Khatri of Ebo is disappointed after hail destroyed her fields that had just sprouted and were green. She is restless after the hail destroyed potatoes planted on about 20 ropanis. She said that she is worried about how she will manage the household expenses after the crop is destroyed. ‘Look, the hailstorm has damaged the crops, all the hard work has been wasted, even God is watching when it doesn’t work,’ she said. She said that she earns up to 4-5 lakhs by selling potatoes every year.

She said that after the loss in potato farming, a team from the municipality including the chairman came and looked at it. ‘They said they would compensate,’ she said, ‘What will they give, when will they give it, it would have been better if they gave it.’

Potatoes worth more than 25 million rupees have been exported annually from Abo alone. Potato farming has been taking place on 3,800 hectares of highland across the district. Potatoes harvested in the months of Poush-Magh are dug up and exported from mid-Asar to Bhadau.

Potato farming has been taking place as a cash crop in the highlands of all 9 local levels of the district. There are statistics that potatoes worth Rs 700 million are exported to Kathmandu from all over the district, including the Terai.

The largest number of potatoes are exported from Sailung. The Agricultural Knowledge Center Ramechhap, which also has Dolakha under its jurisdiction, has demanded a report on the damage caused by hailstorms to potato farming from the local level, said its chief Pramod Prasad Dahal.

‘We have asked the local level to provide details on how much damage has been caused to the potato farming planted in the fields of farmers in the Lekali region,’ he said. Four local levels have submitted details, while the rest have not, due to which a complete report of the damage has not been made.’