RASUWA: With dairy farmers switching to other occupations, the country’s oldest cheese factory based in Rasuwa district is in a crisis.

The factory was established at Langtang in 2009 BS with assistance from Switzerland’s government to lure villagers to take up cattle-keeping. Cheese production has declined sharply due to unavailability of milk.

Factory chief Chatra Bahadur Tamang said increasing number of farmers, who were into dairy farming earlier, are turning to the tourism sector.

“The factory used to produce up to 10,000 kilogrammes of cheese a year in the past.

Now, only 6,000 kilogrammes of cheese and 800 kg of curds are

produced,” he said predicting that production will fall further in the coming years.

However, there is another cheese factory at Chandanbari that is doing roaring trade. “We are producing 25,000 kg of cheese and 8,000 kg of curds yearly,” said factory chief Prabhuman Bahadur Gurung.