Jhapa. Parshuram Giri of Mechinagar Municipality (8) has been engaged in commercial banana farming for two years. He started farming on about 10 kattas of land and is earning Rs. 300,000 per season. Giri started commercial banana farming after returning home after 17 years of foreign employment.
He mentioned that after starting to earn a good income from farming, he expanded the area of farming to 15 kattas. He said that he is looking for five bighas of land with plans to expand farming further in the coming days. Giri informed that he has planted 600 plants of the ‘G-Nine’ variety of banana and said that this banana has plump, large pods and tastes better than others when ripe.
‘Since the land is hilly, it would not have been profitable to plant rice for Rs. 10,000,’ he said. ‘Now, I can sell bananas and make a profit of Rs. 10,000.’ He said that he is saving Rs 200,000 every season, stating that he spends about Rs 100,000 on cultivation, fertilizers, disease and pest control.
The district-based Krishi Gyan Kendra has reported that commercial banana cultivation is being carried out on an area of 1,900 hectares in Mechinagar, Arjundhara, Gauriganj, Kachankabal, Gauradah, Barhadashi, Kamal and Bhadrapur. Generally, banana plants are planted in nine months and produce within a year.
Farmers say that the bananas produced here reach Kathmandu and Pokhara in addition to the local market. Most of the farmers engaged in banana cultivation, like Parshuram Giri of Mechinagar, have returned from foreign employment. Farmers in the district are cultivating bananas on land ranging from five katthas to 50 bighas, according to the center.
In 2060 BS, Dambar Pahim of Barhadashi started commercial banana cultivation for the first time on an area of 10 bighas. After that, Chandra Bahadur Basnet of Jhapa Rural Municipality-3 returned from Israel and cultivated bananas on 30 bighas of land, Pahim said that this started being imitated in other areas as well.
In 2071 BS, the statistics of the Agricultural Knowledge Center mention that commercial banana cultivation was done on only 30 hectares of land in the district. The Agricultural Knowledge Center has stated that the area has expanded to 1,900 hectares in the district, and that 37,000 metric tons of bananas are produced annually in the district, saying that the area has expanded to 1,900 hectares.
Farmer Giri said that bananas are sold directly from the plant for Rs. 500 to 700 per person. He believes that farmers are becoming more attracted to banana cultivation because it provides faster and higher income with less effort and capital. Giri said that farmers have been attracted to banana cultivation after the local government, knowledge center and other concerned bodies started providing subsidies in the areas of farming extension, technical knowledge, facilitating marketing, and supporting agricultural insurance.
According to him, challenges in banana cultivation are increasing due to lack of fertilizer, irrigation, wind, insect infestation, and proper treatment. According to the Agricultural Knowledge Center, farmers in Jhapa have been cultivating Chinichampa, Malbok, G9, and Israeli varieties of bananas.
प्रतिक्रिया दिनुहोस्