Farmers of Humla in trouble after being unable to sell potatoes

By Our Correspondent,Humla, May 12: It has been found that the local potato produced in Humla in the Himalayan district has not found market. As there is a lot of production and there is a problem of market, the farmers are in trouble to sell their products.

Kumma Rokaya of Simkot Rural Municipality-5 complained that potatoes produced in their farm did not get market. He said that the potatoes produced in four ropanies of land could not be sold so far.

"Potatoes grown in four ropanies of land were harvested in the month of Kartik and kept in a pit in the garden of the house. Now they have been taken out from the pit for sale, but in vain," he said.

He has more than seven quintals of potatoes currently. Another farmer of Simkot Rural Municipality-6 Jasu Rokaya said that he had to keep the potatoes in a pit without getting a market. 

He said that even if a small amount is sold, the price is not good and said they had to go house-to-house to sell potatoes carrying them in a basket. At present, the price of potatoes in Humla is Rs. 25 to Rs. 30 per kg. 

He said that he started cultivating potatoes even in the land where other indigenous crops are grown, but the effort was wasted when the potatoes did not find a market. According to him, he currently has around nine quintals of potatoes in store. 

Kangso Lama of Simkot Rural Municipality-3 said that he started commercial cultivation of potatoes after getting good income from it in the past. But this year there was a problem in the sale of potatoes, he said.  Lama, who has produced more than twenty-five quintals of potatoes from seven ropanies of land, said that four quintals of potatoes have been sold so far and the rest are kept in pits. 

Netra Bahadur Shahi, chief of agriculture branch of Simkot Rural municipality, said that the farmers were in trouble as potatoes did not find market. 

He said that the farmers are producing a lot of potatoes but there is a problem in the sale of potatoes due to lack of market. 

He said that as Simkot is not yet connected to the national road network, it is not possible to supply potatoes elsewhere. Due to the high cost of transportation by air, the potatoes cannot be supplied outside the district, he said. 

This year, farmers still have more than 400 quintals of potatoes in storage, he said. He said that most of the farmers have started to grow more potatoes in recent times, so there is a problem in selling them.