Sugarcane Farmers to Receive Pending Payments Soon

Kathmandu. The pending payment that sugarcane farmers of Bardiya and Kailali have been waiting for for a long time will be released within a few days. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forest and Environment has moved forward with the preparation to send the amount to the farmers' accounts as soon as possible after completing the technical process. On Thursday, in a meeting of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, Secretary of the Ministry, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Mishra, informed that the Ministry has given high priority to the payment of sugarcane farmers. Acknowledging that the farmers' complaints about the delay in payment are natural, he clarified that the payment, which was supposed to be made in Ashad, was delayed due to administrative and technical processes. Clarifying the payment process for the farmers, Secretary Mishra said, 'A decision has been made at the ministerial level to immediately provide the pending payment to the sugarcane farmers of Bardiya and Kailali. The payment procedure has been received, and preparations are underway to send the amount before Dashain by completing the necessary process within a day or two.' Sugarcane farmers have been repeatedly reminding for the outstanding amount for a long time. Although the ministry had decided to make the payment earlier, the farmers were suffering due to the slowness in implementation. Secretary Mishra has urged the farmers to be assured as the ministry is continuously following up. Although government officials have repeatedly given assurances of payment, the situation where farmers have to suffer continues, so the farmers' Dashain festivities will depend on whether the amount reaches their accounts within a day or two.