Rastriya Samachar Samiti

Nepalgunj, April 5:

Nepalgunj remains as the main business hub in the mid-western region, but it lacks an organised vegetable and fruit wholesale market. Vegetable farmers in Hirminiya, Bhawaniyapur, Pipraha and Saigaon village development committees (VDCs) have been deprived of a just price for their products as a result of absence of a proper place for selling agriculture products. The combined annual production of vegetables in these VDCs is said to be around 10,206 metric tonnes.

Farmers in the region are dependent on Indian wholesalers, which has compelled majority of consumers in Nepalgunj to buy vegetables and fruits from Rupaidil vegetable centres in nearby India.Taking this into consideration, an infrastructure development workshop on wholesale market management of vegetables and fruits in Nepalgunj was organised here on Sunday. The workshop was organised by the agriculture development office, Nepalgunj, considering the difficulties faced by farmers to sell and get a fair price for their products.

At the workshop, an agreement was reached to construct a wholesale market by purchasing a plot of two bigha in Chaulikkababa area of Bhawanipur VDC on the Nepalgunj-Rupaidil highway.

It was also decided, on the occasion that Nepalgunj municipality would provide Rs 200,000, Banke district development committee would contribute Rs 100,000 and the Hirminiya Bhawanipur, Pipraha and Saigaon VDCs Rs 50,000 each for purchasing the land.

Farmer groups from these VDCs also decided to give Rs 100,000 and make arrangement for necessary amount for construction of the wholesale centre. A 11-member committee has also been constituted under the chairmanship of farmer Gulab Khawani Khan. DDC chairman, Rampati Tiwari expressed confidence that the centre would help improve the conditions of farmers.