PANCHTHAR: Works pertaining to agricultural marketing, technical support and data collection have come to a standstill in Tehrathum district after government scrapped District Agriculture Development Office (DADO) to implement the federal setup.

However, farmers in the region are hit hard in absence of DADO which provided crucial agricultural services in the past.

“After government scrapped DADO, we are facing difficulties in eliminating crop infestation and we have not yet received subsidised winter crop seeds, that were previously available to us through the local office,” Som Kangdangwa of Aath Rai Rural Municipality shared.

Expressing utter discontent over DADO dismissal, farmers said that, they are now impelled to travel to Dhankuta, the province headquarters, to avail services that were earlier provided by district offices.

Although the farmers receive support from local levels that run various programmes related to agriculture, lack of skilled manpower has deprived them of technical assistance and agro-marketing services.

Meanwhile, the government has established a knowledge centre at Dhankuta accessible to farmers in the region but without a contact centre in Terathum, farmers reckon that service delivery will not be as effective as it was in the past.