RUKUM: Potato farmers in Rukum are a disappointed lot as their hopes of earning handsome sums of money have been shattered.

With potato farming becoming the main source of livelihood, many villagers in Taksera, Kol, Hukam, Maikot and Nakharishi, all eastern VDCs are into its commercial cultivation. Farmers said that though production volume this time crossed last year’s mark, hundreds of tonnes of potato are in storage due to lack of market. A farmer of Nakharishi-5, Nar Bahadur BK, said, “My entire effort has gone waste, I couldn’t earn any money.” Last year, the farmers had taken the potato harvest to the market in the district headquarters on mule trains.