Farmers in Jaimini Municipality-1, 2, 5, 7 and 8 have started focusing on banana farming after the demand for local bananas increased in the market. Farmers here have started to engage in banana farming after the ban on banana imports from India made it easy to sell at a good price.

Jaimini Municipality has started providing subsidies to banana farmers this year under the slogan 'Let's go to the forest, eat bananas'. This trend will continue to be seen in the results next year, said Ward 1 Chairman Bishnu Prasad Acharya. According to him, more than 50 percent of farmers in Ward 1 have started commercial banana farming.

Prem Prasad Chapagain and Moti Prasad Poudel of Jaimini-1 spend their daily lives around bananas. Their neighbors have also planted hundreds of bananas. Most of the farmers in this village have cultivated bananas on more than 10 ropanis of land. During the summer season, they send 5 to 10 ghari of bananas to the market daily. Some are sold from home. Orders also come in during pujas, festivals, pujas and feasts in the village. Poudel said that he has earned up to 4 lakhs by selling bananas.

Poudel, who is the chairman of Phalante Agricultural Cooperative Society, has been encouraging every share member to get involved in agriculture. Nearly one hundred farmers in his cooperative alone are involved in banana farming along with other agricultural occupations. Each farmer has 100 to 1,000 banana plants in his house. It is reported that most of them earn between 50,000 and 400,000 rupees a year by selling bananas.

Jaimini Ghat and Kushmisera have become very suitable places for banana farming as they are only 600 meters above sea level. According to Pratibha Sharma, an agricultural economist at the Agricultural Development Office, Baglung, Jaimini is a fertile land for local bananas. She said that the office has been providing technical support to farmers. Banana production is also taking place at an altitude of 1,200 to 1,500 meters in Baglung. Banana cultivation is also abundant in Baglung Municipality 1, 3, 4, 8, 9 and 10.

Until last year, commercial banana cultivation was carried out on 42 hectares of land in Baglung. She said that the area of ​​banana added to Jaimini will double the area of ​​this production next year. She estimates that production in Baglung, which produced 245 metric tons of bananas annually until last year, can double after import substitution. “If farmers show interest in increasing it, import substitution will be easy,” she said. “Since the local level is expanding the pockets, production will increase.” The office said that it would support if it wanted to build a block.

Jaimini has taken Kushmisera as a banana pocket area, while Baglung Municipality has placed Banpa 3 as a banana productive area. 'Bananas are easily sold in places that are connected by road networks and have high production potential,' said Subash Sapkota, head of the agriculture branch. 'Since they are sold from house to house and in shops, there is no exact data.' Farmers have recently increased banana cultivation on the Kaligandaki Corridor and Baglung-Kushmisera roads.

'Ramrekha Local', 'Jhapali Maluwa' and 'G9' banana varieties are recommended for Baglung and Jaimini. Poudel said that most farmers have planted Ramrekha Local and Jhapali Maluwa. "We have developed the slogan 'Let's go to the market, eat bananas' from the campaign we started a decade ago," Poudel said. "It goes without saying that bananas are not sold, but rather we have not been able to supply them as per demand." He said that employment and income could be increased if more farmers can be engaged in banana production.

Baglung businessman Hira Sharma said that the market for bananas is good as consumers are looking for them all year round. "There is a good market for bananas during the festivals from Teej to Chete Dashain," she said. "Earlier, there was no price for local bananas, now farmers have also received it, traders have also made money." She said that they buy bananas for a maximum of Rs 200 and sell them with a maximum profit of only Rs 200. Last year, the local level had set the maximum price of bananas at Rs 170. Now farmers are selling them for Rs 200 right in the field.

Jaimini-1 Chairman Bishnu Acharya said that 10 to 12 thousand banana seedlings are being added to Jaimini every year. The ward office has also given a subsidy of Rs 20 per seedling to the farmers. Agriculture technician Rabindra Sharma said that Jaimini Municipality has started a ‘profit project’ in collaboration with the Directorate of Agriculture under the Banana Pocket Expansion Program. ‘We have done a promotional program with a budget of Rs 10 million,’ Sharma said, ‘We are also working on purchasing pipes for irrigation and giving them to farmers.’ After the subsidy and promotional program, farmers are increasing banana cultivation even on barren land.