Farmers busy harvesting potatoes in Uttarbahini (Photo Feature)

Kathmandu: Farmers in the periphery of the Kathmandu Valley are currently busy harvesting potatoes.

According to a research entitled “STATUS AND PROSPECTS OF POTATO RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN NEPAL”, Potatoes are regarded as a major vegetable crop in mid-hills and terai where whereas it is one of the staple food crops in high hills.

With the monsoon approaching and the need to start rice planting, farmers are occupied digging up the potatoes from their fields. In the fields along the riverbanks in the valley’s periphery, farmers grow two crops of potatoes between the rice harvest and the next planting season.

Farmers busy in paddy plantation (Photo Feature)

Compared to wheat, potatoes yield better income, so farmers have been increasingly drawn to potato farming over the past decade. According to local farmers, the potato market is good, and buyers often come directly to the fields to purchase the produce.

After harvesting potatoes, farmers use pumps to draw river water and begin planting rice.

With the goal of improving livelihoods of Nepalese farmers through this crop, two different national level R and D programmes
namely National Potato Research Programme (NPRP) and National Potato Development Programme (NPDP) were also established in the
country.

(Glimpses of farmers busy harvesting potatoes in the Uttarbahini fields of Gokarneshwor)

(Photos: Saroj Basnet)

Nepali version of the photo story