Kathmandu. Farmers in Chitwan are in trouble as they are not getting proper price for commercially produced vegetables. The farmers here are worried as they are not getting the right price for the vegetables produced here.

Laxmi Rana Bhatlar of Buddhi Chowk, Bharatpur Metropolitan City-25, who has been doing commercial vegetable farming for the past 20 years, said that vegetables like beans, cucumber and bitter gourd are not getting proper price now. “We are compelled to sell most of the vegetables at Rs five per kilogram. ‘

She has been cultivating vegetables in twelve bighas of land, said that she and other farmers are in trouble as they are not getting the right price for vegetables. According to her, now the farmers are forced to leave the vegetables in the fields. She said that the money given to the workers has not been recovered.

Farmer Sumina Thapa also has a similar complaint. She has been cultivating vegetables in two bighas of land. She has been growing vegetables like stem beans and cucumbers in her garden. She has now picked the beans planted in 10 katthas of land and kept them the same after they did not get the price. She said, “The vegetables could not get the price, but the middlemen were fattening.” Farmers have not been able to sell vegetables due to the huge price gap between farmers and consumers.

According to him, the farmers have stopped picking vegetables as they are not getting the required price. Ishwori Neupane, coordinator of the struggle committee, said that the farmers are preparing to protest by forming a farmers’ struggle committee after they did not get proper price for their vegetables.

Neupane said, “We buy it from farmers at Rs 5 to Rs 10 per kg and sell it at Rs 70 to 80 per kg.” He said that they have understood the consumer price in the market and are now preparing to work till the farmers do not get vegetables in the market. He said that the cost of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, manpower, irrigation and transportation has not been recovered.

He urged the state to fix the minimum support price of vegetables. He said that the vegetables produced here could not get the price when imported vegetables got the market. He said that if a vegetable chilling center could be set up here, the produced vegetables could get the price.

According to the National Agriculture Modernization Project Implementation Unit, vegetable farming is being done in 770 hectares of land in the district as a vegetable zone. One thousand farmers have participated in it. Mahesh Regmi, chief of the unit, said that the farmers are worried as they are not getting the market price.