Farmers have been hit hard after the Food Management and Trading Company Limited imposed a price and quota for the purchase of rice produced by Banke farmers.

Although it is estimated that 156,200 metric tons of rice will be produced in Banke this year, they are in trouble after the Food Management and Trade Company Limited will purchase only 20,000 quintals.

Ramkishore Verma of Janaki Rural Municipality-2 said that despite the increase in production this year compared to last year, they are in trouble after the food department is purchasing rice in a limited quota, citing storage problems.

‘I am worried that this year’s rice will not be sold,’ he said, ‘Production has increased. Traders outside are not buying at the government price. There is no space at home to store it, so I am worried about how to manage it.’

Kaluram Tharu, a farmer from Rapti Sonari-7, said that when the Food Management and Trade Company Limited arrived to sell rice, he was told that the quota would not be purchased because the rice had run out.

Ram Sharan Lamichhane, the head of the Food Management and Trade Company Limited, Banke, said that the price of rice was fixed and the purchase of rice from farmers started only from Sunday. The company said that this year, it has set a quota to purchase 15,000 quintals of coarse rice and 5,000 quintals of medium rice from farmers. He said, "We will purchase rice at the government price based on our storage capacity."