November 9: Over 55.9 percent of the families in Bagmati Province generated income from agriculture which was not enough for them to sustain throughout the year, according to the agriculture census, 2078 conducted by the National Statistics Office.

Only 44.1 percent of the families could sustain throughout the year from their agricultural income, states the census report.    
According to the report, the main income source of people in Bagmati Province is agriculture. Traditional agricultural technologies have been replaced by new ones. According to the NSO director Badri Kumar Karki, 14.8 percent farmers use iron plough to till the land, 30.8 percent use tractor and 16.7 percent use power-tiller.    
Out of over 1.5 million families in the province, 668,177 are farmers, and 282,292 hectares of land have been used for agriculture purpose, he said.    
As per the census, mango is cultivated in 532 hectares of land, banana in 1,120 hectares, orange in 688 hectares, lemon in 460 hectares and apple in 80 hectares. Compared to the previous census in 2068 BS, the number of farmers who have reared goats and pigs has increased than those who raised cows and buffaloes, said Karki.    
The province has 66.4 percent farmers who themselves use the products they grow, and 25 percent also sell their products. -- RSS