{"id":93529,"date":"2026-06-29T14:17:36","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T08:32:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kalopati.com\/?p=93529"},"modified":"2026-06-29T14:20:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T08:35:17","slug":"arzoo-rice-mill-new-model-to-make-farmers-self-reliant-in-paddy-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.kalopati.com\/news\/93529","title":{"rendered":"Arzoo Rice Mill: New model to make farmers self-reliant in paddy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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. In Nepal’s agricultural economy, rice is not only a food crop but also plays an important role as a sensitive indicator of farmers’ livelihood, market structure and state policy. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n
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The practice of Chaite rice production in the Jhapa-Morang-Sunsari region of the eastern region and the practice of Arzoo Rice Mill associated with it has sparked a new debate in recent years on how the private sector can play a role in price stability and market management of farmers. <\/p>\n

In a field study conducted by Nepal News Bank, farmers, operators and stakeholders have shared their experiences, challenges and expectations, highlighting the structural problems of the rice market, price imbalance and increasing import dependence. <\/p>\n

Arzoo Rice Mill, established with an investment of more than Rs 550 million, has been operating an integrated system from paddy procurement to processing and market management in direct collaboration with around 4,000 farmers of the eastern region. The Company has been collecting paddy from the farmers, making payment in short time, producing quality rice through modern technology and fixing the minimum support price before planting. <\/p>\n

According to the mill’s representative Bibek Anand Jha, the project is not a business plan made in a day, but the result of decades of cooperation and experience with farmers. According to him, the agricultural mechanization campaign was launched through about 30 cooperatives in Jhapa, Morang and Sunsari areas. <\/p>\n

According to him, the mill established at the insistence of the farmers has a social objective of ensuring fair price to the farmers in the long run and making them shareholders if needed. <\/p>\n

According to Jha, although the demand for fine rice, cumin and basmati rice is high in the Nepali market, farmers are still focused on coarse rice production, which has led to an imbalance between demand and supply. According to him, the agricultural technical infrastructure has not been able to develop the farming system as per the demand of the consumers. <\/p>\n

With this in mind, the Company has been running a campaign to expand the cultivation of Jeera Masino and Longgrain rice with the strategy of incentivizing the farmers, technical assistance and increasing the production through fair prices. <\/p>\n

Although the government has fixed the minimum support price of Chaite paddy at Rs 28.58 per kg, there are problems in its practical implementation, according to the company. The support price has not been implemented effectively due to the lack of infrastructure such as drying paddy, storage and quality management. The company, on the other hand, has stated that it has fixed different prices on the basis of moisture and quality and has adopted a system of direct payment to the farmers. <\/p>\n

The mill plans to purchase up to 10,000 tonnes of paddy in around 2,500 bighas of land in the coming days. After the trial and research, fine paddy has been successful in about one thousand bighas of land and it is expected to expand after the farmers get good price. <\/p>\n

According to the stakeholders, although the market of longgrain rice is expanding worldwide, its cultivation in Nepal is limited and the production structure has not been developed as per the demand due to lack of seeds and weak research. <\/p>\n

The fact that although the demand for fine rice in Nepal is around 80 percent, the production share is only 5-10 percent, which shows that dependence on imports is increasing. This situation indicates that self-sufficiency will not be possible unless domestic production is increased. The stakeholders have concluded that Nepal’s paddy production system could be made market-oriented and sustainable only through effective coordination among the private sector, farmers and the government, seed development and infrastructure expansion. <\/p>\n

Mechanization brings relief to farmers <\/p>\n

According to farmer Govinda Neupane, the collaboration with the mill has greatly eased the harvesting, carrying and management of paddy. According to him, the work which was previously required by a large number of manpower is now being completed very quickly and effectively with the use of mechanical equipment like harvester. <\/p>\n

“There were many problems in the past, but now we are harvesting paddy with the help of harvester,” he said. The work done by about 40 people can be done in two hours, which has given a lot of relief to the farmers. According to him, mechanization has helped reduce the cost of production and increase income. <\/p>\n

Karna Bahadur Thapa, a farmer from Morang, shared his experience of farming since 2030 BS and said that he had to resort to farming in the Tarai region in the initial years due to lack of technology and knowledge. He said that although the production has increased with time, the farmers are still not getting proper price. <\/p>\n

According to him, the farmers have not been able to get real benefit due to the lack of effective implementation of the minimum support price fixed by the government. Thapa said that the production system has become more challenging due to the influence of middlemen, poor market access of small farmers and lack of fertilizers. <\/p>\n

Ramesh Karki, another farmer, said price support price, market volatility and import dependence have further put farmers under pressure. According to him, many farmers are compelled to go for alternative employment as it is difficult to earn a living only from agriculture. “The government fixes the price, but there is no guarantee of procurement, so the farmers cannot get the fixed price,” he said. According to Karki, although private initiatives like Arzoo Rice Mill have provided relief to some extent through price assurance and advance purchase system, the overall market structure is still weak. <\/p>\n

According to him, the farmers are compelled to sell the paddy at a lower price as they do not have the infrastructure to store and dry the paddy quickly. According to him, the price of domestic paddy has been further affected due to the influence of middlemen, shortage of government godowns and dryers and import of rice from India. According to him, farmers have not been able to get the minimum support price (MSP) in the absence of a well-managed market system like ‘mandi’ in Nepal. <\/p>\n

According to the common conclusion of the farmers, although cooperation with the private sector has simplified the production process and mechanization, government infrastructure, effective market system and policy implementation are essential for long-term solutions. According to them, the possibility of Nepal becoming self-reliant in paddy production is still strong with the practical implementation of the support price, storage infrastructure and guarantee of the market. <\/p>\n

Farmers will be able to cultivate Chaite paddy easily<\/p>\n

KATHMANDU: Amid debates on the expansion of paddy cultivation and price assurance in Nepal, farmers have said that collaboration with the private sector has brought some stability in the production system. Yubaraj Neupane, a local farmer, said that it has become easier to cultivate Chaite paddy after the collaboration with Rice Mill. <\/p>\n

According to Neupane, although they did not cultivate Chaite paddy in the past, farmers have been attracted to Chaite paddy after the mill provided market guarantee and price guarantee in advance for the last four-five years. He said that fixing the price at the time of planting the seeds and ensuring the purchase is the main reason for the expansion of farming. “Earlier, we did not cultivate Chaite paddy, but now we have started cultivating rice after the arrival of Arzoo Rice Mill for the past four to five years. There is no hassle of cutting, the market is also assured, so it was easy,” he said. <\/p>\n

According to him, although the minimum support price fixed by the government is not implemented effectively, the private sector mills are fixing the price on the basis of moisture and quality. <\/p>\n

According to Neupane, the price of Chaite paddy is around Rs 25 per kg when it is 25 per cent chilled and the actual price is Rs 29 per kg when it is dried in 18 per cent moisture. However, farmers are compelled to sell raw paddy in lack of infrastructure to store and dry it, he said. <\/p>\n

“Traders do not buy at the price fixed by the government. Arzoo Rice Mill, on the other hand, buys the rice in advance based on the quality and humidity. Farmers cannot dry up to 18 percent, so they have to sell them raw. \u2019<\/p>\n

According to farmer Neupane, although the advance purchase system of the private sector has reduced market uncertainty, the agriculture sector cannot be completely stable until government support, storage infrastructure and effective price implementation are implemented in the long run. <\/p>\n

Farmers suffer losses from the price fixed by the government<\/p>\n

Yubaraj Neupane, a farmer, said farmers have been facing continuous loss as the minimum support price (MSP) set by the government has not been implemented in practice. He blamed that the traders do not buy paddy at the government price and the farmers are not getting proper price due to weak monitoring. <\/p>\n

According to him, even though it costs around Rs 800 to produce one maund, the market price does not meet the price. According to him, although the price has been assured to some extent after collaboration with Arzoo Rice Mill, the price fixed by the government is like ‘airborne’. According to him, although the mill provides price on the basis of quality and humidity, the farmers have not been able to take full benefit due to lack of drying infrastructure. <\/p>\n

Dream of a Farmer Happy<\/p>\n

The mill was born in the dream of Birendra Bahadur Basnet, managing director of Buddha Air and a local entrepreneur of Dangihat, Morang. <\/p>\n

Basnet established the mill in 2022 as per the policy of purchasing all paddy from local farmers. The total investment will be increased to Rs 60 crore by constructing the third barn of Rs 5 crore. The mill has the capacity to store and process 25,000 tonnes of paddy annually.\u00a0The mill has been giving more money to the farmers not only in Chaite paddy but also in Asare (produced in November) with the aim of making the farmers happy and self-reliant in paddy. <\/p>\n

Traditionally, the government depots and grain traders have to wait for months for payment while selling the paddy, have to take the paddy back because they do not get moisture or get cheated in the weight. <\/p>\n

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. In Nepal’s agricultural economy, rice is not only a food crop but also plays an important role as a sensitive indicator of farmers’ livelihood, market structure and state policy. The practice of Chaite rice production in the Jhapa-Morang-Sunsari region of the eastern region and the practice of Arzoo Rice Mill associated with it hasContinue reading “Arzoo Rice Mill: New model to make farmers self-reliant in paddy”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":93512,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1391],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized-en"],"acf":[],"publishedDateNp":"\u0967\u096b \u0905\u0938\u093e\u0930 \u0968\u0966\u096e\u0969, \u0938\u094b\u092e\u092c\u093e\u0930 \u0967\u096a:\u0967\u096d","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.kalopati.com\/kp_api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.kalopati.com\/kp_api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.kalopati.com\/kp_api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.kalopati.com\/kp_api\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.kalopati.com\/kp_api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93529"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/english.kalopati.com\/kp_api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93530,"href":"https:\/\/english.kalopati.com\/kp_api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93529\/revisions\/93530"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.kalopati.com\/kp_api\/wp\/v2\/media\/93512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.kalopati.com\/kp_api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.kalopati.com\/kp_api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.kalopati.com\/kp_api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}