Business community asks to ban illegal imports of chicken, betel nuts

JHAPA: The local business community in Jhapa has stated that domestic production has badly suffered due to an illegal import of chicken from India. The stories of betel nut producers are also similar as a huge amount of betel nuts is imported from third countries. Chairman of District Poultry Producers Association, Jhapa, Bibek Niraula, said that the poultry business in Jhapa could face closure if we failed to stop the illegal imports of chicken and eggs from India. Niraula argued that more than 4,000 kilogrammes of chicken both meat and alive, and a large number of eggs are imported on a daily basis through the open border. From this, more than Rs 500 million is sent to India illegally every year, it is said. Poultry is the only self-reliant agriculture-based industry in Nepal and the state should play a role to ban illegal imports in order to protect this industry, Niraula said. Meanwhile, the betel nut farmers have also complained about the poor state of the market due to imports from third countries. As we have a sufficient supply of betel nuts from our own productions, why do we need to import from third countries including Singapore,  Nilkantha Tiwari, a local farmer asked. READ ALSO:

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