December 14, 2013, 9:55 pm Only a quarter of total supply of vegetables and fruits are imported in the Kalimati Vegetables and Fruits Market.
The market imports only 24.79 per cent of supplies from India and 1.69 per cent from China, the data provided by the Kalimati Vegetables and Fruits Market Development Committee revealed. Likewise, the supplies from Dhading contributes 17.68 per cent, Kavre 12.07 per cent, Makwanpur 8.35 per cent, Kathmandu 5.36 per cent, Chitwan 5.19 per cent, Sarlahai 4.78 per cent, Jhapa 3.24 per cent and Bara, Bhaktapur, Dolakha, Gorkha, and many other districts of the country contributes to the remaining supplies, it said, adding that the market – that has been operational since 1988 – has 381 wholesale and 70 retail stalls and witnesses an average of Rs 20 million worth transaction of 644 metric tonnes of vegetables daily. “Of the total trading, vegetables shares 83.31 per cent, fruits 11.63 per cent, fish 1.13 per cent and remaining others.”
However, secretary at the office of the Prime Minister Krishnahari Baskota today asked the traders at the Kalimati Vegetables and Fruits Market to display the price list for the convenience of shoppers.
As the market price of vegetables has soared in the last couple of months – due to lack of market monitoring and middleman in the market that have been eating the profit of farmers at the cost of consumers – Baskota also asked them to be a model vegetable market by maintaining the just price’.
He, on the occasion, also briefed the government’s plan to construct a multistory building with underground parking, meat shops at the ground floor, vegetables market at the first, fruits at the second and eateries at the third floor.
The market is sprawled over a 45 ropanis of land must sell the hygienic and organic vegetables, he said, suggesting them to issue bills while selling the produces and use scientific scales to weigh.
If the market becomes consumer-friendly, it can also create ‘Kalimati’ brand and package its produces for sale, the secretary added.
Kalimati vegetable market imports only a quarter of supplies
