Due to lack of electricity, the moisture center is not in use

According to the local Bhadramani Vick, the local people are planning to store 15 metric tons of potatoes for seeds in the building which is going to be built at a cost of 1.5 lakhs by donating the labor of the local people equal to 10 lakh and 5 lakh rupees. After this storage, the seeds needed in Dhorpatan area can be made safe . As for eating potatoes, farmers keep them at home and send them to the market when they get a chance.

54 thousand 810 metric tons of potatoes were produced in 3 thousand 50 hectares of Dhorpatan last year. Although the aim is to make farmers professional by increasing potato production in this area, there are no storage houses. Since it is cold season, farmers keep it at home and send it to the market. Dhan Bahadur Kayat, head of Kawa city, said that even though the facility of systematic storage in Dhorpatan area is necessary, it has not been built.

'Small investment is not enough, a big search is being made,' he said, 'roads have to be leveled for easy marketing.' If the Dhorpatan Saljhandi road is level, farmers will be able to easily send their produce to the market. Large stores require electrification. Dhorpatan's Burtiwang Bazar has electricity service only. Chairman of Ward 9, Khim Bahadur Gharti, said that only after the construction of an additional 30 km long power line to reach Dhorpatan, the possibility of a large store appeared.

In Tarakhola rural municipality-4 Karimela, the project has built a seed storage house with a capacity of 10 metric tons. The building has been put into operation at a cost of 2.1 lakh for the project and 4.5 lakh for the locals. Local farmer Om Prasad Kandel said that the farmers paid the security and electricity costs to Damasahi and put the storage house full of seeds into use.

Some buildings and stores built with partnership and government investment have not come into operation . Most of them have suffered from lack of electricity . The 130 metric ton capacity cold store built in Tamankhola has not been put into operation due to lack of electricity. In the last financial year, 50 million was spent by the provincial government, 4.45 million by the federal government's supplementary budget and 1.5 million by the rural municipality. "We could not put it into use due to lack of electricity," Budha said.

Nepal Electricity Authority Baglung distribution center is preparing to take electricity to that place. Farmers who have chosen that place are worried that they will not be able to use it if there is no electricity. Tamankhola Rural Municipality, which has not reached the national transmission line, is planning to be electrified. But the location of this store is also 20 km northeast from the municipal center.

Last year, with the investment of 11 lakh 78 thousand by the provincial government, the cold store, which has 2 chambers of 10 metric tons capacity in Nisikhola rural municipality-2 Devisthan multi-purpose cooperative organization, is not operational due to lack of electricity . Kumar Pun, the information officer of Agricultural Knowledge Center Baglung, said that the farmers are waiting for the extension of the electricity that has reached the Burtiwang market.

The 50 metric ton capacity solar storage center in Jaimini Municipality-4 Sarkuwa built by the then Agricultural Development Office has become dilapidated and not being used. Manoj Rana, Technical Assistant of Jaimani Nagar Agriculture Branch, said that it is more appropriate to build a new one at a suitable location than to spend on maintenance. He said that since the potato production in Jaimini-3 will be good, next year the municipality is going to make a plan for the store under Khayan Alu promotion program.

A colt room with a capacity of 20 metric tons has been built in the Ganesh Commercial Agricultural Cooperative Society of Baglung Municipality-8. After the Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives of Gandaki Province invested 2.1 lakhs three years ago, the cold store was built with the labor donation of 4 lakhs by the locals. Oranges are stored at full capacity of this store . The cooperative has also paid the electricity bill regularly. Top Bahadur Khadka and Anant Khadka, members of the same cooperative, have built two cold rooms at home with personal investment. 200 quintals of oranges can be stored there .

A store with a capacity of 100 metric tons has been built and put into operation in Galkot Municipality-3 for three years with a private investment of 2 crores. Potatoes and fruits are also stored here. Mahendra Khatri, a member of the group, said that fruits were stored for the dry season and potatoes were sent to the market during the rainy season. This storage center is operating at full capacity . He said that when the capacity is low, the goods sent to the market are kept outside.

Apart from that, in the partnership of the provincial government, potatoes have also been stored in a storage center with a capacity of 50 metric tons in the year 2075 in Dhamja of Kathekhola rural municipality-3. It is used collectively as a community building.

Kathekhola-6 In Bihun, after receiving 500,000,000 support from the provincial government, the local oranges kept in the 110 metric ton capacity cold store built for nearly 60,000,000 have been sent to the market by February and March. "It's not enough, it's not even modern, it's only for keeping for a few months," said local Yukt Prasad Kandel, "If there is a modern store that can store at least 500 metric tons, farmers can sell it at a reasonable price."

In Kathekhola-5 and 6, up to 30 million oranges are sold by farmers in a year. Kandel says that it will be double the profit if you can store it and sell it in the summer season than the price you get if you sell it in November. Farmers have been paying the cost of electricity used in the cold store to Damasahi . There are no employees to operate the said store . Groups of farmers have been using .

There is no cold store for vegetables and fruits in Baglung market. The Mission Agricultural Cooperative Society, which operates a fruit shop in Guthi located in Ward 3, has built a cold room of 10 metric tons with a grant of 1 million from the Ministry of Cooperatives of the province. Although it is in the name of a cooperative, it has been used to store vegetables and fruits individually.

Ganga Bahadur Thapa, a leading farmer, said that stores should be built in pocket, block and zone areas of vegetables and fruits to make them self-sufficient in agricultural crops and fruits by increasing local production. "Without a store, many vegetables and fruits rot, they are not available when they are needed," he said, "Investment is needed for big infrastructure and industry rather than small subsidy programs."

He said that there is no investment for milk production and storage. Baglung, which is self-sufficient in milk, is imported during the dry season. "If we increase the investment for proper stores and industry, there will never be a shortage of milk," said Yuk Prasad Kandel, a member of the Baglung Milk Cooperative, "We also need subsidies for buying animals and producing grass."