Lamjung, October 13

Cardamom farmers in Lamjung submitted an application to the District Administration Office yesterday, demanding that Cardamom Entrepreneurs Federation be scrapped.

Some 51 farmers of Besishahar Municipality and Dordi Rural Municipality submitted a written application to Chief District Officer of Lamjung Yuvraj Mainali accusing the federation of failing to work in the interests of farmers. The farmers have blamed the federation for low price of their produce.

“The quality of our produce is getting better every year, but sadly its price is going down,” said Ravi Ghale, a farmer, of the rural municipality, adding, “Why do we need a federation for just name’’s sake if it can’’t do anything?”

They have further demanded that they be allowed to negotiate with traders directly. Assistant CDO Tirtha Bahadur Adhikari said his office has forwarded the farmers’’ application to the district agriculture development office for necessary action.

The price of cardamon in Lamjung was at Rs 2,200 to Rs 2,600 per kg in the last fiscal. But ever since they started selling their produce through the federation, the price slumped. “We had to sell our produce for just Rs 1,100 to Rs 1,300 per kg last year and this year they are saying that we will only get Rs 800 per kg,” said another farmer Krishnalal Tamang.