PARBAT, Oct 16: By putting aside all other professions, locals of Mahashila Rural Municipality ward no 5 of Kahule in Parbat district have engaged themselves in vegetable farming which has proved to be a major source of income for many. They have been fulfilling their basic needs and are also paying the fees of their children with the money earned by selling vegetables. This has not just increased their economic status but has also upgraded their living standard.
According to Sheshkant Poudel, a local farmer, more than two dozen families of the village earn Rs 2 00,000 to Rs 500,000 annually through this business. Poudel has been growing cauliflower, cabbage, tomatoes, bitter gourd, beans, cucumber and various other vegetables.
After harvesting, Poudel sells them at local Lunkhu Deurali Bazaar. "If we have the will and wish to do something, we can earn good money even at our own village," he said. According to the farmers, one need not worry about selling them once the vegetables are grown as there are sufficient markets.
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Similarly, Bhim Kumari Yadav who has been in this profession since the last ten years, earns Rs 90,000 by selling tomatoes this season. Besides that, She was successful in selling onion seedlings worth rupees eighty thousand.
"Even the farmers from other villages come to us for the saplings and vegetables," said Yadav. She says her family would not have been able to send his son to school and earn two square meals if they had not engaged themselves in vegetable farming.
Not just them but 25 more families of Kahule are actively engaged in this profession. "This has become our major occupation and a source of income," said Chintamani Paudel, a local farmer. Prosperity of farmers and expansion of business has attracted a lot of people into this business nowadays.
This has also reduced the import of vegetables from other districts but has also stopped some locals leaving to foreign lands. In recent years, this village has been an example for lot of others. In order to encourage the farmers, the rural municipality has promised to provide relief and grants as per the demand.
