Farmers forced to sell paddy at lower prices

Siraj Khan / Nepalgunj, Nov. 6: Farmers in Banke, one of the major paddy-producing districts in western Nepal, have complained that they are being forced to sell their paddy at lower prices as the Food Management and Trading Company has failed to begin procurement on time.

Although the government has fixed the minimum support prices for paddy this year, farmers say they have been compelled to sell their produce to traders at lower rates because the government-owned company has not started purchasing it.

Shankar Singh Tharu, a farmer from Naubasta in Banke, said that local farmers were being forced to sell paddy to traders at prices below the government-fixed rates as the Food Management and Trading Company Limited had not initiated the procurement process.

He said the government had fixed the minimum support price at Rs. 3,660 per quintal for coarse paddy and Rs. 3,860 per quintal for medium-grade paddy this year. However, traders were purchasing paddy at prices Rs. 500 to Rs. 1,000 per quintal lower than the government-fixed rates.

Tharu said farmers had been compelled to sell their produce due to their need for money during the festive season. He urged the government not only to announce the minimum support price on time but also to begin procurement from the start of the harvesting season.

Similarly, Ram Naresh Yadav, a farmer from Janaki Rural Municipality-5 in Banke, said he had been forced to sell his paddy at a lower price because traders were unwilling to pay the government-fixed rate, despite his urgent need for money.

He stressed the need for regular monitoring of traders’ rice mills by the concerned authorities to ensure that farmers receive the government-fixed price for their produce.

At present, traders in various parts of Banke are purchasing paddy at prices Rs. 500 to Rs. 1,000 per quintal below the government-fixed rates.

Farmers said most of them had been compelled to sell their produce cheaply after traders in Nepalgunj, Khajura and Kohalpur refused to offer more than Rs. 3,000 per quintal for coarse paddy.

Ram Sharan Lamichhane, chief of the Food Management and Trading Company Limited’s Nepalgunj office, said procurement had not started because the company had received a quota of only 10,000 quintals this year, half the amount allocated last year. The company had purchased 20,000 quintals of paddy last year.