By Sher Bahadur Sarki, Bajura, Sept 12: All nine local levels in Bajura are encouraging local farmers to cultivate millet.
As millet farming has proved beneficial to local livelihoods, local authorities have recently stepped up efforts to motivate farmers to grow the crop.
Farmers in the district are now cultivating more millet than in the past. Demand for the organically grown millet produced here is increasing in cities across the country, with traders even visiting villages to purchase it directly from farmers.
Previously, millet produced in the district often went unsold. However, as buyers now come directly to villages to purchase the crop, millet farming has become an increasingly attractive option for local farmers.
Millet is considered highly nutritious, containing carbohydrates, protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals such as calcium, magnesium and iron.
Some local governments in the district have also made millet-based dishes a mandatory part of the midday meals provided to schoolchildren.
Guests staying at larger hotels in the district frequently request millet dishes such as roti and dhindo. However, local traditional healers, known as Dhami-Jhakri, do not consume millet on fasting days, as they consider it unsuitable during such periods.
For other visitors, however, millet dishes have become a favourite. Many prefer millet roti, dhindo and other millet-based delicacies to the standard dal-bhat (lentils and rice).
Millet is also relatively easy to cultivate compared with other crops. It requires no irrigation and grows well on sloping and rugged terrain. While farmers can suffer losses when drought or excessive rainfall damages crops such as paddy and wheat, millet is considered more resilient to such conditions.
Millet grows well in various parts of the district, including Himali, Jagannath, Swamikartik, Budhinanda, Badimalika, Gaumul, Budhiganga, Khaptad Chhededaha and Triveni. Farmers across the district are now cultivating more millet than before.
Srijana Rokaya, a farmer from Himali Rural Municipality, said she had increased millet cultivation because it had made it easier for her to earn a livelihood.
“In the past, the millet grown in the village wouldn’t sell, so we only grew enough for our own consumption. Now that customers are coming directly to the village to buy it, we have started growing more,” she said.
“We produce millet using manure from sheep and goats. Since the millet produced this way is organic, demand for it is growing in cities across the country,” added Rokaya.
As millet farming has proved to be a viable source of income for local people, local governments are encouraging farmers to expand its cultivation.
Farmers can achieve good yields with relatively little labour, while demand for their produce is increasing in cities across the country. Govinda Bahadur Malla, chairperson of Himali Rural Municipality, said the local government had been encouraging farmers to cultivate millet because it could provide them with a sustainable livelihood.
Of the district’s total area of 230,037 hectares, 22,000 hectares are arable. Millet is cultivated on 5,260 hectares in Bajura. Harish Bista, chief of the Agriculture Knowledge Centre in Bajura, said 6,200 metric tonnes of millet were produced in the district last year.
The Rising Nepal
