Commercial buckwheat farming on the rise in Manang

MANANG: Commercial buckwheat farming is flourishing in Manang district in the recent years.

Farmers are attracted towards buckwheat because other grains including paddy, maize, and millet could not be cultivated in a substantial volume in the district. Buckwheat is now being planted in every local level of Manang.

According to a local farmer Binod Gurung, buckwheat farming is good in Manang's Nesyang, Chame, and Nasong Rural Municipalities. Likewise, except in Nar and Phu settlements in the upper parts of Narpabhumi, lower areas of the rural municipality are suitable for the crop.

During the fiscal years 2017/18, farmers cultivated buckwheat in 286 hectares and produced 508 metric tons of the crop in the district. Similarly, in FY 2015/16, 502 metric tons of buckwheat was yielded from 286 hectares.

 

Another farmer from Humde, Raju Gurung, said that buckwheat is best cultivated in the upper region also known as Nisyang Valley than the lower region of Manang, adding that locals are growing the crop in correlation with tourism.

Gurung further claimed that the buckwheat they are cultivating is a native crop and organically produced. They use buckwheat flour for dhido (staple food made out of various flours boiled in water) and bread, which delight the tourists visiting the district.

Majority of the locals involved in tourism and hotel industry are cultivating the crop, added Gurung.

Farmers in the district usually sow the seed in mid-June and harvest in Mid-October.