NEPALGUNJ, NOVEMBER 26 Middlemen have started buying rice from Food Management and Trade Company Limited. Farmers complained that middlemen had urged them to take coupons for the high quantity of rice. FMTCL bought 50 quintal rice from one farmer. Following the same, some farmers were compelled to sell rice. Siraj Ahamad Khan, a farmer in Nepalgunj, said they could not sell their produce as middlemen had already taken coupons for selling rice. The FMTCL office in Nepalgunj started buying rice through coupon system. The company had called farmers and distributed coupons as per a fixed deadline. The company has prepared to buy rice from National Trading Nepalgunj after the godown at the main branch Karkando was occupied. The government has fixed the price of mota rice at Rs 2,735 and normal rice at Rs 2,885 per quintal. The company bought rice at the same rate. Limited number of farmers and traders had come with bullock carts, tractors and other vehicles to sell rice after the coupon system was implemented. Chief at Food Management and Trade Company Nirmal Thapa said farmers need not worry about the damage to rice due to rainwater, as was the case earlier. He said farmers’ details, quantity of rice along with the date was fixed in the coupon to bring the rice to sell. He added a farmer could sell 50 quintal rice from a coupon. Thapa said he did not have any information about middlemen. Feature image: File