Surkhet, Sept. 30 -- Two years ago, Man Bahadur Khadka from ward 11 of Birendranagar Municipality, Surkhet, bought two Murrah buffaloes from Nepalgunj's Rahamat Suppliers at Rs150,000 each. He received a government grant of Rs75,000 per buffalo under Karnali Province's much-hyped "Dairy Promotion and Livestock Feed Development Programme," launched to boost milk production.

The initiative, introduced in 2018 by the provincial Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives, promised farmers that Murrah buffaloes-an improved breed from Haryana, India-would produce far more milk than the local buffalo species.

Convinced, many farmers sold their native buffaloes and invested in the new breed. Around 2,600 Murrah buffaloes-both mal...