Aiming to become self-sufficient in vegetables, the government of Nepal introduced high-tech greenhouse technology in the country under the Prime Minister Agriculture Modernisation Project (PMAMP). Although the technology has been successful in developed countries, the high-tech greenhouses in Nepal have failed to give full-fledged output due to lack of technicians. Farmers in Kaski district have expressed their dissatisfaction towards the project for not having technicians.
“Due to lack of technical support and technicians we are not being able to grow the desired quantity of vegetables that we could with the help of this technology,” said Kebal Bahadur Gautam, owner of Kham Ghale Agro Farm, in Malepatan, Kaski. For the last two years he has been producing Japanese cucumbers, spinach, green beans and tomatoes.
As per Gautam, PMAMP has provided two technicians for his farm, however, the irresponsible behaviour of the technicians has driven his business to a loss. “There is no problem with the market but due to lack of technical support we are not able to grow vegetables as per market demand,” he said.
“Earlier, government officials had come to us and informed about the new technology and its success in foreign countries,” Gautam said, adding, “Being fascinated with the new technology we adopted it but now we are not even able to solve small problems of our greenhouses.”