Mankumari Rana of Dobhan Botegaun, Tinau Rural Municipality-2, who used to have a hard time taking cucumbers to the market last year, is currently busy in her vegetable garden. She started selling Bhaktapure local variety cucumbers from the third week of Falgun last year and is worried that she will not be able to sell them until the second week of Chaitra this year.

She complains that there has been a delay of a month while she was hoping to get cucumber seeds from the municipality under subsidy. ‘Last year, cucumbers were sold at this time, but this year, it has been too late to sell them,’ she said. Cucumbers fetch a good market price in the last week of Falgun. According to her, Bhaktapure local cucumbers could be sold in bulk for Rs 80 per kg. ‘Now, when we take our cucumbers to the market, the price has come down to Rs 50/60 per kg,’ she said. Bharat Thapa of Botegaon said that he is now in great trouble after planting cucumber seeds twice and getting seeds that did not have germination. This year, in Tinau Rural Municipality, he had filled out a form through a farmer group under the federal special grant program under the Agriculture and Livestock Business Promotion Program. All the farmers in the village had filled out a form for seeds through the affiliated Devisthan Farmers Group, so they were confident that they would receive the subsidy seeds. But now the farmers are worried after receiving seeds that did not have germination. Thapa, who received 10 packets of seeds distributed by suppliers as subsidy for the first time, did not have even 1 percent germination in the seeds he kept. He said that cucumber seeds germinate in 7 to 8 days. There are more than 45 farmer groups in Botegaon. ‘I received 10 packets of seeds of 10 grams each,’ he said, ‘the first time it did not germinate.’ After reaching the rural municipality and complaining, another seed was given. The germination rate of the last seed given was 15 to 20 percent. According to him, the seed pack had a cucumber sticker on the outside and a cauliflower sticker on the inside. He said that the cucumber seeds came in a pack with one picture on the outside and another inside.

Farmer Thapa said that he received Kaligandaki seed for the first time and Rapti seed for the second time. 'After the seeds given to him did not germinate both times, we went to the rural municipality to complain,' he said, 'They said they would bring Nakkhu seed seeds within three days. It has been 7 days and they have not received them yet.'

Thapa said that after the first grant seeds did not germinate, the cucumber plants he bought from the market and planted them himself have finally started to flower. He said that if he had waited for the seeds given by the rural municipality, the field would have been barren by now.

Under the federal special grant, a tender was floated for the supply of seeds along with various goods for Rs. 18.81 lakh and cucumber seeds were also sought. Tinau Agriculture Branch Chief Hemant Sharma said that there was a delay in the same tender. According to him, the first time it was not received and when the tender was issued for the second time, an agreement was reached with Darshan Groups Pvt. Ltd. Nepalgunj-18 Banke and seeds were provided as per the specified specifications.

According to the farmer, the municipality had already delayed the supply and the seeds did not germinate twice again, which further inconvenienced him. ‘Even if the seeds we received had germinated the first time, we would not have been in trouble now,’ said farmer Geeta Thapa, ‘Looking at the photo of the seeds, they were very good. But they did not germinate. We were delayed by a month.’

According to the agricultural technician, Bhaktapur local cucumbers bear less fruit when the weather gets hotter. In the high mountains, fruits can be harvested until Asar. Farmers here plant rice in the rainy season. In other seasons, they plant vegetables such as potatoes, cucumbers, cauliflower, ghirau, farsi (jukune), bodi, bitter gourd, etc.

They have been cultivating vegetables here for years as it is close to the Butwal market. Surya Bahadur Bagale, the chairman of the Devisthan Farmers' Group, said that they have been cultivating vegetables here for 13 years. According to him, there is also a Botegaun Agricultural Cooperative in the village. Last year, the village earned more than one crore rupees from cucumbers alone. 'This year, more farmers have expressed their desire to plant cucumbers,' he said. 'Farmers are worried because they did not get seeds on time.' Cucumbers are cultivated in about 200 ropanis in the village. There are a large number of farmers who earn between 50,000 and 700,000 rupees by cultivating vegetables here.

He said that after the farmers united by forming a group and cooperative, they received support from the Agricultural Knowledge Center, National Agricultural Modernization Project Vegetable Zone. Chairman Bagale said that the rural municipality had run an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) farmer school in the same group three years ago. ‘This time, there was an opportunity to get seeds and other materials under subsidy,’ he said, ‘but the seed supply was not good. Other materials are also not as expected.’ Farmers complain that the sprayers are also not of good quality. Farmers said that the organic fertilizers were not of poor quality because they were sent to the laboratory.