Farmers laughing all the way to the bank
PALPA, OCT 22 -
Tara Thapa from Palung Maidani village development committee (VDC) planted less ginger than last year as she had not been able to get good prices then. With prices on an upward trend of late, she is regretting her decision to downsize.
Thapa earned Rs 100,000 by selling 250 kg of ginger that she has grown. She has another 250 kg in stock which she wants to sell as seeds for cultivation as they fetch better prices. Last year, she earned Rs 25,000 for 250 kg of ginger .
“We cultivated less amount of ginger thinking that the situation would be like last year,” said Thapa. “This year, the situation turned upside down.”
Growing ginger has been a good source of income for farmers in villages like Chahara, Bhairavsthan, Palung Maidani, Mujhung, Fake and Thimure. “The high prices farmers have been getting this year have made others who did not plant ginger jealous,” said Krishna Bahadur Thapa of Palung Maidani, Batase.
Traders are happy that ginger prices have been rising since August. The price of newly cultivated ginger has reached Rs 200 for 2.5 kg while old ginger costs Rs 400 per 2.5 kg. Increased prices have also led to higher exports of ginger to India.
“I have been involved in ginger farming for 24 years, and this is the first time that I have received so much for my products,” said Thapa. He has earned over Rs 5 million through ginger farming.
Thapa said that he bought three plots of plots and a house and paid for his daughter’s wedding with the money.
Farmers got a maximum price of Rs 70-80 for 2.5 kg of new ginger and Rs 140 per 2.5 kg for old stock. Entrepreneurs have been selling ginger at Rs 200 per kg in Tansen. Farmers in Bhuwan Pokhari, Chahara, Shomadi and Siddheshwor have sold their entire ginger crop.
“Higher prices have also made this year’s Dashain festival extra colourful for ginger farmers. Those wanting money brought ginger to the market and sold it at a very good price,” said Shiva Kunwar, a trader at Batase. The local Chamber of Commerce in association with the District Agriculture Development Office has been promoting ginger farming under the One Village, One Policy programme.
According to the Agriculture Development Office, ginger is cultivated on 1,200 hectares of land in Palpa. It is grown in all the 65 VDCs of the district. In the last fiscal year, the district produced 14,500 tonnes of ginger and exported around 10,000 tonnes. Apart from Palpa, ginger is cultivated in various districts like Gulmi, Argakhanchi, Nawalparasi, Syangja, Parbat, Tanahu, Kaski and Lamjung in the western part of the country.
Ginger exports to India through the Sunauli border have also been on the rise these days. According to the Quarantine Office in Sunauli, shipments have increased three-fold compared to the last fiscal year.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
