Local farmers have complained that a government-owned company has caused them problems by purchasing only 20,000 quintals of rice in a district where 1.6 million quintals of rice are produced.
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Food Management and Trading Company Limited, Nepalgunj has purchased only 20,000 quintals of rice this year.
The company has stopped purchasing as 20,294.20 quintals of paddy have been purchased against the stipulated quota of 20,000 quintals. According to the Agricultural Knowledge Center Banke, 1.6 million quintals of paddy have been produced in the district this year. Local farmers have complained that the government has caused them problems by purchasing only 20,000 quintals of paddy in a district where 1.6 million quintals of paddy were produced. Gorakh Sunar of Bhaiyapur, Janaki Rural Municipality-2, said that the company is forced to sell paddy at a cheap price in the market after most farmers did not purchase it, and is worried that the cost will not be covered. He said that although he received a token for selling paddy, it was sent back when he took the paddy saying that the quota was fulfilled, so he had no option to sell it cheaply in the market. According to farmer Mohan Barma of Duduwa-2, when the government did not purchase paddy, the grain traders arbitrarily bought it at a price much lower than the support price. He said that earlier traders were offering prices of up to Rs 2,500 per quintal, but now the food department has stopped purchasing and is buying for just Rs 2,000.
The Nepal government has set the minimum support price for coarse rice at Rs 3,463.81 per quintal and the support price for medium rice at Rs 3,628.33. However, grain traders are buying rice at Rs 1,500 less than the support price. Due to this, farmers are worried that the cost price will not rise.
Ram Sharan Lamichhane, head of Food Management and Trading Company Nepalgunj, said that the purchase has been stopped as the quota of 20,000 quintals of rice purchase set for Banke has been fulfilled. He informed that 721 farmers came to sell rice with the recommendation of the local level this year, but rice was purchased from only 536 farmers after the quota was fulfilled.
