Masta Rural Municipality to be developed as indigenous crops hub

By Our Correspondent,Dhangadhi, June 4: Minister for Internal Affairs and Law of Sudurpaschim Province Prithvi Bahadur Singh has said that the provincial government is positive about expanding the area of indigenous crops produced by farmers of Masta Rural Municipality of Bajhang district.

Addressing a provincial level interaction on ‘Commercialisation of Indigenous Produce’ held in Dhangadhi on Friday, he said that the government was ready to provide technical assistance to farmers for increasing production and also support irrigation facilities.

The programme was organised by Masta Rural Municipality with the support of the Office of the Chief Minister and the Council of Ministers of Sudurpaschim Province.

Minister Singh said that he would take initiative to find out what indigenous crops can be produced and promoted in which district and local level.

He said that he would take initiative in making policies for that and would include them in the policies and programmes that the provincial government was about to introduce for the next fiscal year.

Similarly, Narayan Sharma Duwadi, Chief Secretary of the provincial government, said that indigenous crops programme had been prioritised.

He emphasised on the need to identify the potential of indigenous crops with necessary preparations and bring programmes for their promotion.

He said that the government would help in keeping the grain mart in order to promote and market the produced crops.

He said that arrangements would be made for the government to pay for the marketing and promotion of crops and rent for keeping them in marts.

In that programme, the production of indigenous crops, potential challenges and other issues were discussed.

According to the data released in the programme, millet was cultivated in an area of 200 hectares and beans were cultivated in 50 hectares in Masta Rural Municipality this year.

Similarly, the rural municipality has now taken a policy to support farmers in marketing by expanding the area of other local crops and increasing the production.

The aim of the rural municipality is to increase employment by producing and selling local crops.

The rural municipality now aims to increase the production and consumption of local crops such as millet, barley, latte, bethe, kaguno, beans and chono.

For this, in partnership with the provincial government, a project has been conducted to develop the production, consumption and marketing of indigenous crops under the Innovation Partnership Fund.

Prabhakar Joshi, Agriculture Officer of the rural municipality said that about 3,238 people would benefit from the programme.

He also said that a ‘menu’ had been prepared in the school to serve lunch using local crops.

Gyan Bahadur Bohara, chairman of the rural municipality, said that the minimum price of the produce would be fixed to encourage farmers to be engaged in the production of local grains.

He also said that the rural municipality would also buy their produce. He said, “Even if we have to store food without selling it, the rural municipality will buy the produce from the farmers.”