Organic pesticide production starts in Kavre

As organic farming gets increasingly popular in Kavre, the District Agriculture Development Office (DADO) has started the production of organic pesticide. The DADO with the help of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Program has set up a laboratory for the production of organic pesticide. The office has also formed a group of peasants in Kushadevi VDC and trained three farmers for the purpose. According to the DADO, the farmers will be involved in the production, packaging, leveling and selling of organic pesticide. Madhusudan Poudel, a senior crop conservation officer, informed that the organic pesticide to control pests such as white grubs has been already developed in the lab. He also informed that the lab would start manufacturing fungicides such as trichoderma and insecticides to save organic crops from moth larvae. “The organic pesticides produced in Kushadevi can address the demand of insecticides for organic farming in Kavrepalanchok as well as IPM farms,” said Poudel. “We can export the surplus production to neighboring districts, too,” added Poudel, under whose guidance the farmers have been producing the organic insecticide. DADO has also planning to provide financial assistance to set up a organic seed resource center in the district to encourage the farmers toward the organic farming and the production of the organic pesticides. According to DADO, organic farming is carried out in over 300 hectares of land in Kavrepalanchok. “We have been promoting organic farming in the district as a campaign. We are able to attract farmers who had not used chemical fertilizer and pesticide in the past to organic farming,” Sahadeve Prasad Humagain, a senior Agriculture Development Officer, informed. Humagain also believed that they would attract rest of the peasants toward organic farming through IPM Program. “Organic farming, in which there will be no use of chemical fertilizers and chemical insecticides, will help reduce the acidity of soil and would make positive impact on the environment, too” claimed Humagain. With the aim of promoting organic farming, the Organic Agriculture Association of Nepal, an organization under the guardianship of head of the DADO, has also been formed. Given the health benefits, the consumers are gradually attracted toward the organic production. Some of the organic farms - Organic Himalayan Firm, Patlegagun Organic Farm and Ashapuri Farms - in the district have also been exporting their products to the international market.