Even though the tunnels were built with 85 percent of the government's investment and 15 percent of the farmers' investment, the tunnels became useless when the program was implemented without technical studies.
Suraj Rayamazhi, a commercial farmer of Tansen Municipality-7, Kazipauwa, has a 'hi-tech tunnel' currently lying vacant. About 1.3 million was spent during the construction of the tunnel itself.
The tunnel was built with 85 percent of the government and 15 percent of the farmers' investment. The tunnel occupies about one acre of land . There is not even 10,000 in the land that earns 50,000 annually from the tunnel . Rayamazhi's complaint is that he is not able to get income as per the temptation given by the technician in the beginning .
``During the construction, the technician showed us the temptation, at the beginning it was that this structure would bring more success,'' he said. Cultivation is not done . The temperature inside the tunnel has increased . There has been no growth.'
Tansen-9, commercial farmer Indra Paudel's hi-tech tunnel of Tintiamp is also empty. As the temperature could not be adjusted, there was no cultivation and it became vacant. "It was built as high-tech, but it was not fully high-tech," he said, "The initial understanding is that the method of cultivating under controlled temperature by controlling the temperature is the high-tech tunnel."
Not only Rayamazhi and Paudel, the farmers have not been able to take crops from all the 8 hi-tech tunnels constructed under the then Prime Minister's Agriculture Modernization Project, Vegetable Zone Palpa . Farmers are in trouble because the temperature cannot be adjusted inside the hi-tech tunnel made in 12 meters width and 40 meters length.
Tansen-7, Sita Ghimire of Kazipauwa, Nurdev Paudal of Kunsare, Maheshwar Pant, Bhim Bahadur Kumal, Rita Bhandari Pangeni of Ward No. 9 installed hi-tech tunnels have also become useless .
There is an agreement that the constructed tunnel will not be demolished for 10 years . 'When will the time come and it will be demolished,' said Nurdev Paudel of Tansen-7, Kunsare, 'It has become a problem as we are not able to earn even 10,000 per year from this.' The project has built a hi-tech tunnel to make the country self-sufficient in agriculture by establishing a commercial agricultural industry from an agriculture-based economy.
Farmers were initially attracted to hi-tech technology because of state-of-the-art technology with subsidies. He said that due to the lack of expert technicians related to this technology, farmers are in trouble. No one is interested in this, even though the hi-tech tunnel, which is said to be the most technologically advanced, will remain unused when the program is implemented across Hachuwaka without technical study . Fans and other air conditioning systems have been installed in the tunnel. The fan is not working well . Aluminum lattice for heat control, fogger for humidity control is connected here . Drip irrigation, net mesh, domes are installed . The government has invested more than 80 lakhs in hi-tech tunnel. Farmer Maheshwar Pant said that more than 2 million farmers have invested. He says that although the
tunnel is expected to produce high production, continuous supply and quality vegetables and fruits, it has not been used. None of the farmers who installed hi-tech tunnels are satisfied. On the other hand, the leading farmer Dhruv Bhandari said that there is a problem because the farmers do not even have the technical knowledge to plant crops. He says that there is a big problem due to the lack of information on the technical aspects of crops, diseases and insects to be planted in hi-tech tunnels.
Even though the hi-tech tunnel was constructed, there was a problem in the operation even though it could not be connected with additional equipment including the air conditioning system. As the cost will be high and the production cost of farmers will increase in the long run, normal fans have been installed . But it could not control the temperature . Kisan Bhandari said that because of the dome, there is a problem in adjusting the temperature. Farmers could not compete in the market because of the difference between open cultivation and tunnel production.
Farmers aim to make high profits from agricultural products with new technology . Farmers complain that they are suffering losses now. Farmer Gambhir Rayamazhi said that due to the use of high technology, there is a loss in business. He says that farmers are in trouble due to the wrong trend of introducing technology first and technology later.
"Even though it is called high-tech, there is no technical aspect to it," he said. This technology should be agricultural friendly as there is no risk of diseases, insects, no spraying of pesticides, less labor required and off-season cultivation. But the farmers have been complaining that their fields have been occupied and they have not been able to cultivate other vegetables in it.
Even though the project claims that they have supported them technically, the farmers are not convinced. Ganesh Prasad Yadav, head of Palpa-based National Agricultural Modernization Project Vegetable Zone, said that it was not used for the work that should have been done in the hilly areas. "It should be used for hi-tech nurseries," he said. If we improve it and move forward, we can earn profit. He said that it should be used for high-value plants, nurseries, and tissue culture. He said that it has become useless now that it is not able to work according to the thinking that was created.
