KAILALI: Santlal Chaudhary, a farmer from Bhajani Municipality-3 in Kailali, is worried. Despite cultivating Chaite rice on three bighas of land this season, he has yet to find buyers for his harvest.
“I’ve tried pleading with traders, but they either offer too low a price or show no interest at all,” said Chaudhary. “Selling at the rates they offer won’t even cover my production costs. At this point, I regret planting Chaite rice altogether.”
Although the government has set a minimum support price for Chaite rice, most traders have shown no willingness to purchase at that rate. Farmers are currently selling their rice for Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500 per quintal, significantly below last year’s market price of Rs 3,800 per quintal. Even at those lower rates, many farmers are still unable to find buyers.
Another farmer, Dallu Das, said that the surge in rice production this year has resulted in oversupply, creating a major challenge in marketing the crop. “Some farmers have even handed over their produce on credit because there’s no guarantee of timely payment,” he explained.
In Bhajani-5, farmer Krishi Budha shared a similar story. He was forced to give his Chaite rice to traders on credit, despite needing cash to cover the expenses he incurred during the season. “It costs nearly Rs 18,000 to cultivate one bigha of Chaite rice,” Budha said. “But there’s no reliable market. Even when we find buyers, we’re forced to sell below our production cost.”
Farmers have called on the government to at least ensure purchases are made at the officially fixed rate, arguing that it would prevent discouragement among producers.
This year, over 1,000 hectares of land in Bhajani were planted with Chaite rice under the Prime Minister’s Agriculture Modernization Project’s special Chaite Rice Zone. Despite an increasing interest in growing Chaite rice each year, farmers say market failures continue to let them down.
“After getting good prices last year, I expanded cultivation to two bighas this season,” said Pardeshu Chaudhary, another farmer. “But now I regret it. There’s no assurance that we’ll get fair value for our effort and investment.”
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