With the aim of increasing potato seed production and seed growth, the Program Implementation Unit (Potato Super Zone) Dadeldhura under the National Agricultural Modernization Program has been providing training, seeds, and technical assistance targeting farmers.

Farmers in Parshuram Municipality, an inner Madhesh area of ​​Dadeldhura, who are limited to traditional farming, have recently formed farmer groups and are attracted to commercial potato farming.

After the government implemented a system to use potato seeds only after certification (tagging), farmers have started focusing on seed potato production rather than eating potatoes. Farmers say that this has increased both market certainty and income.

18 farmers in Pari Gaon, Parshuram Municipality-5 have formed the 'Latinath Agriculture and Livestock Farmers Group' since 2077 BS and have been cultivating commercial potatoes. According to the group's chairman, Surendra Bahadur Bohara, the group has currently planted 75 quintals of potato seeds, of which 15 quintals have been used for seed production.

Stating that 10 to 12 quintals are produced from each quintal of seeds, Bohara informed that potato farming has currently been expanded to 75 ropanis through the group. He said that if farmers can use certified seeds, both production and quality will be better.

Another farmer, Laxmi Khadka, said that her income has increased after she switched from traditional wheat farming to potato farming. ‘Last year alone, she earned more than one lakh rupees from potato sales,’ she said.

Similarly, Kavita Bohara, chairperson of the ‘Organic and Pure Breed Animal Husbandry, Grain and Vegetable Farmers Group’, said that the group has been cultivating potatoes for the past five years. ‘There is a lot of benefit in cultivating potatoes on land that produces one quintal of wheat,’ she said. According to her, the group has planted 400 quintals of potato seeds this year.

Farmer Manju Thagunna of Parshuram-1 Salon and farmer Keshavraj Awasthi of the same place also said that potato farming is more beneficial than traditional farming. Awasthi, who has been cultivating potatoes for the past 10 years, is now cultivating potatoes completely commercially. He said that the support of various government agencies, potato super zones and local levels has made it easier to expand cultivation. ‘Only winter potatoes are produced here, and by planting about 10 quintals of seeds annually, an income of more than 400,000 rupees is being generated,’ he said.

Man Bahadur Bhandari, a farmer from Khajurani, Parshuram, said that he had planted 20 quintals of potato seeds this year. He said that with the support of various offices, cold storage, seed production and sales have become easier. ‘Currently, potatoes worth about 600,000 rupees are produced annually, and the target is to increase seed production to 1 million,’ Bhandari said.

According to Pitambar Basnet, head of the National Agricultural Modernization Program, Program Implementation Unit, Dadeldhura, two seasons—rainy and winter—potatoes have been produced in the district. He said that winter potatoes are produced in the Parshuram area. ‘The price of seed potatoes is naturally double that of ware potatoes, which directly benefits the farmers,’ he said. Basnet said that if the vacant land is utilized properly after digging potatoes by adjusting the crop rotation, the outbreak of diseases and pests will be reduced.

Basnet said that the office has been training farmers with the aim of organizing seed certification, disease and pest management, expanding the ware potato area and organizing seed production. He said that since the demand for Dadeldhura seed potatoes is high in various districts of other provinces including the Far West Province, the sale of certified seeds is assured.

He said that the income from potato farming is double to triple that from wheat farming. Currently, potato farming is being done in 1,122 hectares of area in Dadeldhura.