The farmers of Banke are struggling as the Food Management and Trading Company (FMTC), Nepalgunj, denied buying their paddy.
According to the farmers, it was because of difficult guidelines put forth by the FMTC.
Among 850 farmers who received recommendation from Krishi Gyan Kendra, the FMTC has only bought paddy from 41 farmers in the past one month. The purchases were denied citing that their paddy was substandard.
“We transported the paddy to the FMTC but it cites that the paddy is substandard and denies buying it,” said Ramesh Thapa, a farmer from Ward No. 3 of Khajura Rural Municipality.
According to Thapa, farmers like him then reached the local market only to be paid less.
“We are caught between a rock and a hard place as the FMTC denied buying and local market paid less. Who is going to address our problem?” questioned Thapa.
Hundreds of farmers alongside Thapa are questioning the same.
“I was expecting that the government would buy the paddy and support us as the production was affected by post-monsoon rain. But the opposite has happened,” said Jay Ram Barma, a farmer from Ward No. 4 of Duduwa Rural Municipality.
As per Barma, he sees himself in the streets. The FMTC started buying paddy from farmers since mid-November. “We have bought 984 quintals of paddy from 41 farmers till now,” said Ram Bahadur Bista, chief at FMTC, Nepalgunj.
According to Bista, the FMTC was supposed to buy 25,000 quintals of paddy from 230 farmers but it seems impossible now.
Source : TRN,
