सिंहदरबार संवाददाता
Khotang. Diktel Rupakot Majhuwagadhi Municipality has started a program to distribute advanced cattle to the farmers of the municipality. With the aim of making the farmers self-employed and making the municipality self-reliant in cattle meat, a cattle distribution program worth Rs 6.2 million has been started this year.
As part of the municipality’s announced program, advanced cattle purchased from farms in the Terai have been distributed to farmers through farmer groups, said Deputy Mayor Bishan Rai.
‘There is a program to distribute 400 cattle this year,’ he said. ‘Under the municipality’s agricultural program, a policy has been made to distribute advanced cattle to farmers with a 75 percent subsidy. So far, we have distributed two hundred cows.’
Of this municipality, which has fifteen wards, Rs. 1.6 million has been distributed in Ward No. 3 Bamrang, Rs. 7 million in Ward No. 4 Khalle, Rs. 1.2 million in Ward No. 5 Lafyang, Rs. 3 million in Ward No. 7 Dorpa, and Rs. 850,000 in Ward No. 15 Vijayakharka.
Deputy Mayor Rai informed that the remaining amount will be distributed to farmers by purchasing cows in the said wards. Tej Prakash Jaisi, head of the municipality’s agriculture branch, informed that the cattle distribution program has been decided so that the farmers themselves pay 25 percent of the total price of the cattle purchased.
After depositing the amount in the farmer group’s account, the group itself purchases, transports and distributes the cattle. It is said that the municipality, which places agriculture as its first priority, has decided on the cattle distribution program with the aim of connecting the youth with employment and income generation.
The municipality has stated that since manure is also produced through cattle and buffalo farming, it is expected that the production of vegetables and agricultural produce will increase. Under the policy and program passed by the municipal assembly last year, the municipality has taken forward a program to commercialize agriculture.
The municipality has been providing subsidies to farmers for commercial cultivation of bananas, kiwi, lemons, oranges, coffee, tea and vegetables along with animal husbandry. Coffee nurseries have been established in Ward No. 6 Nerpa and Ward No. 14 Buipa so that seedlings do not have to be purchased from elsewhere from next year.
1.7 million coffee seedlings are being grown in those nurseries with the investment of the municipality. The municipality’s agriculture department chief Jaisi said that the coffee nursery was established because self-produced plants are cheaper than those purchased from outside.
Around 100 daily wage workers are deployed in the nurseries established by the municipality in both places. Deputy Mayor Rai said that it is estimated that the municipality will receive 12 billion rupees annually once coffee starts bearing fruit under the program to commercialize agriculture.
‘There is a plan to sell the coffee produced in Diktel in various cities of the country along with the local market. We will send the coffee that is not consumed in Nepal to the UK,’ he said. ‘When processed, it is consumed in Nepal. We will send some coffee directly to the UK without processing. An agreement has been reached for that.’
The kiwis planted under the kiwi cultivation promotion program launched by the municipality have already started producing. A processing center has been established in Ward No. 6 Nerpa to collect and process the produced kiwis.
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