Opposition says farmers not able to sell vegetables

The Opposition party in a release said it is disheartening and discouraging that farmers are not able to sell their vegetables this production season.

They said that media reports and inquiry with farmers, especially those from the Southern, Central and Western regions, have made it clear that tons of vegetables could not see market this time around. They said are reports that farmers had to dump their vegetables into rivers and feed to cattle after they failed to sell them.

The party said the primary causes of this unfortunate problem, are the government’s inefficient buy-back system and farm produce being disallowed to be exported to India because of some fissures in the trading arrangement between the two countries.

It said the inability to sell the farm produce will discourage famers from engaging in agriculture.

It said the government must look into the issue immediately and rescue farmers from further woes at the earliest.

The party recommended the government to Improve the buy-back system, with minimum guaranteed price, Sort out the issues surrounding the export of vegetables to India, Improve the linkage between production gate and the domestic market.

It also asked the government to focus on improving sorting, packaging and quality of exportable farm produce.

It said that in light of the recent parliamentary ratification of the Preferential Trade Agreement between Bhutan and Bangladesh, the government should explore the Bangladeshi market.