It has become easier for the farmers of Patarasi Rural Municipality in Jumla district for marketing their products after a cooperative began purchasing potatoes reaching the village itself.
The Himalayan Multi-Purpose Cooperative reached the Patarasi and brought potatoes produced in the village. Patarasi is known for potato production.
Earlier, women used to carry agricultural products to the district headquarters, Khalanga, and barter potatoes with paddy. But, the potato is now being sold at Rs 25 per kg in the village, said a local Mayadevi Budha.
Vice-Chair of Patarasi Rural Municipality, Janamaya Rokaya, shared that farmers were happy and felt easier while selling potatoes from their homes.
With this, women's compulsion to carry potatoes for long distances for their sale has ended, she added. The potato produced here is being exported to different districts of Sudurpaschim Province, including Surkhet.
A total of 800 quintals of potato was exported to other districts from the Rini, Pathmara, and Banta villages of Patarasi Rural Municipality.
According to the Cooperative, a potato collection center with the capacity to store 10 tonnes of potatoes was set up at Urthu Chautara of Patarasi. Potato is cultivated in 2,650 hactres of land in the district, said the Agriculture Development Office, Jumla.
Around 50 percent of the produce in the district is exported to other districts, said Chief of the Agriculture Development Office, Jumla, Ganesh Adhikari.
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