Country imports millet worth Rs 510 million from India

JHAPA: As the youths are leaving abroad for foreign jobs and the land plots in the rural areas are left barren, the country has imported millet worth Rs 513 million in the last fiscal year from India.

In the fiscal year 2079/80 BS, millet import reached Rs 513 million from Kakarbhitta customs point.

According to Information Officer at Plant Quarantine Office in Kakarbhitta Chandra Kishor Thakur, a total of 16,035 metric tonnes of millet was imported from the Kakarbhitta customs point.

Likewise, pumpkin worth Rs 57.7 million was imported from India in the last fiscal year from Kakarbhitta customs point, according to Thakur.

Similarly, chilly worth almost Rs 200 million was imported from Kakarbhitta customs point in the fiscal year 2079/80 BS, Thakur said.

Thakur said that fruits and vegetables including onion, tomato, long guard, yam, watermelon, ginger and others worth billions were imported during the time from India.

However, the local producers in the eastern districts have complained of the limited market for domestic produce due to unrestricted imports of vegetables and fruits from India and other countries.