Bajura women attracted towards potato cultivation

By Sher Bahadur Sarki,Bajura, Apr. 8: Lately, many women in Bajura are encouraged towards potato cultivation. With the access of the road network to the rural settlements, the potatoes produced in the village started getting to the market on time, and women are interested in potato farming.

Amrita Khati of Budhiganga Municipality-4, Sahubada said that as it is easier for sustaining livelihood from the earning by cultivating potatoes than cereal crops, attraction of women here towards potato cultivation is increasing.

She said, "I didn't use to grow potatoes because I didn't know about potato farming. After a technician came to the village and started suggesting ideas about potato cultivation, I started cultivating potatoes."

Khati said that now most of the women here have started cultivating potatoes as they can earn better from potatoes than from food grains.

The production of potatoes is good in Himali, Jagannath, Swamikartik, Budhinanda, Badimalika, Gaumul, Budhiganga, Triveni, and Khaptad Chhededaha areas of Bajura.

Residents of Rajatoli, Dhamkane, Mana, Kord, Khaptad of Badimalika Municipality, Kanda of Khaptad Chhededaha Rural Municipality-1 and Jayabagyashwari of Khaptad Chhededaha-2 have been earning well by cultivating potatoes.

Earlier, farmers were worried that the potatoes produced in the village would rot if they did not reach the market in time. However, recently, traders have started arriving in their fields to buy the potatoes, so now their worries have disappeared.

Lately, with the access of the road network to every village and settlement here, traders who buy potatoes have started visiting farmers' fields. Now the organic potatoes produced by the locals are being supplied to different parts of the country.

Locals said that the demand for Bajura potatoes has been increasing in different parts of the country recently as the organic potatoes produced in the villages are better for health than urban potatoes. 

Some farmers have stopped planting rice and millet and only cultivate potatoes.

Krishna Khati, a farmer of Budhiganga Municipality-4, Sahudada, said that since the organic potatoes produced in the village started getting market in time with the road access, the attraction of women towards potato farming is increasing.

She said, "There is a farmer group in Sahubada. That group has now started potato cultivation with new technology in about three ropanies of land here."

Last year, more than 100 quintals of organic potatoes grown in Bajura were sold in different markets of the country under the transport subsidy of Agriculture Knowledge Centre, Bajura. According to AKC, Bajura, nearly 20,470 tonnes of potatoes are produced in 1,925 hectares of land in Bajura.