Cooperative facilitates marketing of Jumla potato

It has become easier to the farmers of Patarasi Rural Municipality in Jumla district for the marketing of their produce after a cooperative began purchasing potatoes reaching the village itself.

The Himalayan Multi-Purpose Cooperative reached the Patarasi and brought potatoes produced in the village. Patarasi is known for potato production.

Earlier, women used to carry the agricultural produce to district headquarters, Khalanga, and barter potatoes with paddy. But, the potato is now being sold at Rs 25 per kg in the village, said a local Mayadevi Budha.

Vice-Chair of Patarasi Rural Municipality, Janamaya Rokaya, shared that farmers were happy and feeling easier while selling potatoes from their homes.

With this, women’s compulsion to carry potatoes for long distances for its sale has ended, she added. The potato produced here is being exported to different districts of Sudurpaschim Province, including Surkhet.

A total of 800 quintals of potato was exported to other districts from Rini, Pathmara and Banta villages of Patarasi Rural Municipality.

According to the Cooperative, a potato collection centre with the capacity to store 10 tonnes of potato was set up at Urthu Chautara of Patarasi. Potatoes are cultivated in 2,650 hectares of land in the district, said the Agriculture Development Office, Jumla.

Around 50 per cent of the produce in the district is exported to other districts, said Chief of the Agriculture Development Office, Jumla, Ganesh Adhikari.