Betel nut collection stops in Jhapa

By Bishnu Prasad Pokhrel,Damak, Jan. 24: The work of collecting and processing raw betel nuts has been stopped for the time being after various voices were raised regarding the issue of raw betel nut in Jhapa.

Businessmen involved in this work have stopped the processing themselves. A meeting of businessmen who collect and process raw betel nuts has decided to stop the collection and processing work for the time being.

Farmers have demanded to stop the import of betel nuts from Singapore and Indonesia. Tax evasion on raw betel nuts collected and processed here was made public.

After the betel processing centres here stopped receiving raw betel nuts, the betel nut farmers are in trouble to sell their products.

The businessmen said that even though it is a local product, they could not sell it by issuing VAT bills. Businessmen said that it is a problem to sell it by issuing VAT bills as they have shown high rates due to unhealthy competition.

The businessmen said that they will draw the attention of the tax office to this issue. According to Deepak Gautam, Chairman of the Betel Zone Management Committee under the Prime Minister Agriculture Modernisation Project, Jhapa, the import of betel nuts should be stopped in order to create a situation where the betel nut farmers can get a fair price.

The betel nut was not imported from abroad during the COVID pandemic period due to the suspension in opening of LC and local betel nuts got a good price, said Gautam.

“Now we have heard that there is a game of importing betel nuts from abroad and this may lead to a situation where the local products will not get a good price,” he said.

It is said that there are some betel traders who bring betel nuts from third countries and sell them to India from Nepal. There have been frequent disputes over the illegal trade of betel nuts from the Kakarbhitta border.

Agricultural Knowledge Centre, Jhapa has informed that there are only 40 raw betel nut processing centres in Jhapa and around 10,355 tonnes of processed betel nuts are produced by them.