The Bharatpur Municipal Corporation has decided to provide Rs. 3 per liter subsidy to farmers.

Chitwan, July 20 – The Bharatpur Municipal Corporation has decided to provide Rs. 3 per liter subsidy to farmers.
The corporation, which has been giving a subsidy of Rs one per liter of milk for the past two years, has increased it by Rs two per liter in the current fiscal year.

According to Renu Dahal, Chief of Bharatpur Municipal Corporation, the increase in the subsidy amount is aimed at directly benefiting the farmers by increasing the quality and production of milk. The goal of the corporation is to increase the production by directly benefiting the farmers. He said that the price has been gradually increased to Rs. 3 per liter with the objective of benefiting the farmers by understanding their problems. He said, “Farmers will directly benefit from this.”

Chief Dahal said that since this year the subsidy has been given through cooperatives, preparations have been made to send the subsidy directly to the farmers’ account from this year. More than one million farmers in the metropolis will directly benefit from this program. According to Chief Dahal, Rs. 158.15 million has been given for milk in the last fiscal year.

Forty-four cooperatives, five agricultural farms and one group have received grants. In the previous fiscal year, a grant of Rs. 162.61 million was given. The program was started by giving a subsidy of 25 paisa per liter as soon as the people’s representative came to the metropolis. Chief Dahal said, “For the first time in Nepal, we have started giving milk subsidy.” He said that Bharatpur Metropolitan City is the highest milk producing municipality out of 753 municipalities in the country.

It is estimated that one lakh liters of milk is produced daily. A survey conducted a few years ago had collected 33.2 million liters of milk annually. He informed that Rs. 51 million has been allocated for milk subsidy this fiscal year.

According to Meghraj Dhakal, Chief of Agriculture and Livestock Business Promotion Branch of Bharatpur Metropolitan City, there are 156 commercial farms of cows and 15 buffaloes in the metropolis. He said that the corporation had allocated Rs. 17 million for the grant in the last fiscal year. The corporation has been giving grants by formulating procedures.

He said that the farmers selling milk in the cooperatives have been given grants by coordinating through the cooperatives. In his case, the grant is given on the basis of the certified record of selling milk in the Dairy Development Corporation. Dhakal said that Bharatpur was the first to allocate such a large amount for the grant.

According to him, the same cooperative has received a grant of up to Rs 1.92 million and distributed it to farmers. The Annapurna Milk Producers Cooperative based in Bharatpur Metropolitan City-6 has received the highest grant. Chairman of the organization Rishi Ram Chapagain said that all the farmers have benefited more with the increase in the subsidy.

He said, “We will be very much benefited when we get more grants.” Stating that the corporation has increased the grant by understanding the problems of the farmers, he said that the number of farmers raising livestock is expected to increase along with it.

Convenience for raising cows and buffaloes

The corporation has been providing various facilities to the farmers who raise cows and buffaloes of advanced caste. The metropolis has been giving grants to the dairy farmers in the areas of herd improvement, farm modernization program, distribution of machinery and equipment.

The milk produced here goes to Kathmandu, Pokhara, Gorkha, Lamjung, Makwanpur and other districts.