Bhojpur farmers turn to traditional and alternative crops for income
In Bhojpur, farmers in Arun Rural Municipality are conserving traditional Kogati fiber farming, while others are switching to ginger because monkeys damage maize and millet.
Farmers in Bhojpur district are looking for steadier incomes, some by keeping a traditional fiber crop going and others by switching to ginger to escape monkeys that damage their harvests. In Arun Rural Municipality, farmers are conserving the cultivation of Kogati, a traditional fiber crop that has been disappearing. According to Nepal Television, Deshsanchar and Nepal News, Ward Chair Ganesh Rai of Arun-6 said Kogati is grown most in Simtar, Jogitar, Vaireni, Bastang, Baseri and Chomtang in the Jarayotar area, and that 25 to 30 households there farm it commercially.
Rai said the ward has also stressed preserving the traditional making of cloth from Kogati, along with its cultivation. Farmer Devkumar Rai said that hand-woven Kogati cloth for one daura suruwal sells for Rs 25,000 to Rs 35,000 and that the hand-woven daura suruwal is the most in demand. He said the farming brings in up to Rs 300,000 a year. Another farmer, Darjakumar Rai, said local demand for Kogati cloth is good and that farmers in the area grow it collectively in groups. Arun Rural Municipality Chair Shalikram Khatri said the municipality is giving farmers improved seeds, tools and equipment, and running training in making cloth by hand from Kogati thread.
Ratopati reported that farmers in Bhojpur Municipality are turning to ginger because monkeys make it hard to grow traditional food crops such as maize and millet, which the animals damage.
Gita Khadka, a farmer in Bhojpur Municipality-6, said ginger is safe from monkeys because it grows underground, and that it is comparatively easier to grow where monkeys make other food crops hard to protect. She said that grown commercially, ginger can earn more than traditional food crops. Another farmer, Sabitra Pokharel, grows ginger on about 1.5 ropani of land and aims to expand. She said ginger sells for Rs 100 to Rs 120 per kilogram in the local market and that, because it can be dried and ground into powder for sale, marketing is not a big problem and there is less chance of the crop going to waste. Agricultural experts say that, given the good local price, expanding commercial ginger farming could raise farmers' incomes.