सिंहदरबार संवाददाता
Palpa. Farmers are busy digging potatoes in their fields. The work of digging potatoes and storing the produced potatoes in their homes is going on. Farmers who have planted potatoes for commercial production are digging potatoes using a cultivator.
Sushil Dhungana, a young man from Rampur, Palpa, said that after the potatoes were produced at once, they used a cultivator to dig potatoes all day. He has planted potatoes in about eight ropanis of the field in Sani Amarai Bahkhola, Rampur-5.
‘16/17 people have been digging potatoes for two days on Saturday and Sunday,’ he said. ‘Since the crop is produced at one time, it is not possible for the family to dig it alone, so the potatoes have been dug by finding a farmer.’ He planted four quintals of potatoes this time.
He is excited about potato farming as the production is good. He estimates that about 50 quintals of potatoes will be produced this year. Dhungana, who runs a business in Rampur Bejhad Bazaar, has been emphasizing agricultural work at home. He said that he started digging potatoes after the shop was closed on Saturday.
‘The work of digging potatoes has been done, the fruit is good, the production is good, the work of digging potatoes in the field all day and storing them at home in the evening has become like a potato festival, the rooms of the house are now filled with potatoes, it is fun to see this, I make good use of the time when I am not working at the shop, I am busy with agricultural work and taking care of livestock at home, I have not wasted my free time,’ he said.
He has planted Khumaltar red potato. He informed that he has been cultivating potatoes since his grandfather’s time. Earlier, potatoes were grown only for household purposes, but now they have started growing advanced varieties of potatoes for sale. After Rampur Municipality built a cold storage, he has focused on commercial production.
Dhungana said that he started cultivating potatoes commercially as he did not have to take them elsewhere for storage, and since he had good storage facilities in his own village, he started cultivating them commercially. He said that after digging the potatoes, he kept them in cold storage and later sold them at a high price during the off-season.
Now that potatoes are produced in everyone’s household, he sold them at a low price. Since the price is higher when sold during the off-season, farmers keep all the potatoes produced at home in cold storage.
The cold storage facility has saved the farmers here from having to take their potatoes elsewhere for storage. Recently, farmers have started emphasizing on potato production. Rampur Municipality has prepared and put into operation a well-equipped cold storage with a capacity of 300 metric tons to store local products safely.
Sita Devkota, a resident of Kauwa in Rampur-6, is preparing to store potatoes in cold storage. After digging the potatoes, she graded them at home and prepared them for storage in cold storage. Farmers in Rampur Municipality have been emphasizing potato farming as a commercial farming. As the district has a good pocket area for potato production, farmers have been successful in earning good income from potatoes.
After the Rampur Municipality Office and Ward Office launched various programs such as providing subsidized improved varieties of seeds, providing technical services to farmers in the fields, and providing cold storage facilities, farmers here have recently become enthusiastic about potato farming.
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