(Sharmila Pathak)
Lalitpur, 7th January : Farmers in Lalitpur district have now been attracted towards coffee farming.
They have been attracted towards the coffee cultivation in recent period as they can get good income till many years from a coffee farming.
Mitharam Jamakattel of Thuladurlung VDC-6 in the district is involved in coffee cultivation since 2054 BS.
In the beginning, there were only few coffee farmers in the district, but the number of coffee farmers is increasing day by day, he said.
He said, he is making around Rs 400,000 net income from coffee farming annually and has been cultivating coffee on 25 ropanis of land. A coffee tree starts producing coffee after three years of its plantation and produces coffee till 20-25 years.
A total of Rs 25 metric tonnes of coffee is being produced in the district annually. Coffee farmers said that there was no problem of market for coffee. Though the coffee is mostly exported to foreign countries, number of domestic coffee users is also increasing in recent time.
Information officer at the District Agriculture Development Office, Lalitpur, Hari Pandit, said that Out of 4,681,032 population of the district, 1,286,086 people are now involved in agriculture profession.
Coffee farming is suitable on the land above 800-1600 mteres from sea level, he added. It is now cultivated at Chandanpur, Gotikhel, Pyutar, Thuladurlung, Arsang, among other VDCs in Lalitpur.
There is not fact percentage about the farmers involved in coffee cultivation in the district, some 636 farmers are now involved in it, it is learnt.
Source : RSS
