Baitadi, January 11:

Coffee farmers in Gokuleshwor VDC of the district have started cutting the coffee plants and planting vegetables after they could not get market for the coffee produced by them.

The farmers, who had begun coffee farming some 15 years ago after hearing the success story of coffee farming in Ilam, Gulmi and Palpa are now discouraged. They are compelled to seek alternative after they could not find market.

Prem Singh Mal of Chausera, Ward No 1 has already cut 150 coffee plants and has instead started vegetable farming. He was the pioneer in coffee farming in the VDC. He had begun planting coffee after an American national Aral Thomsom gifted him coffee plants.

Other farmers, who followed Mal and planted coffee, are a worried lot after their guide himself opted for vegetable farming. They said they had expected the buyers to come to their doorsteps but nobody showed any interest in buying and marketing the coffee. Lack of external market, low or no consumption in the local market, problems in processing and lack of transport facilities have hit the farmers hard and forced them to shift to vegetable farming.

lack of market and access to market are the key problems they are facing, they said.