Former PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda" pushed back against years of mockery over one of his agricultural initiatives, telling the All Nepal Farmers Federation that bringing Murrah buffaloes from India was not a trivial matter and rather something others had not been able to do for decades.
The remarks turned a long-running political punchline which the critics reportedly mocked him during a past India visit for merely bringing a buffalo into a defense of his broader record on agricultural investment while in office.
"Bringing a Murrah buffalo from India was not a trivial matter , I did what others could not do," Prachanda told the gathering. He also recalled separately securing a buffalo meat export agreement with China during his tenure.
The program traces to a 2023 India agreement gifting Murrah buffalo bulls for crossbreeding, distributed to breeding offices in Pokhara, Lahan and Nepalgunj. A single bull fetches Rs 2–2.2 million in the market, and Murrah-crossbred buffaloes produce roughly three times more milk than local breeds.
The impact shows up in real farmer incomes: one Kaski farmer told the Kathmandu Post in 2024 he was milking 50 litres a day from his Murrah buffaloes, earning around Rs 147,000 monthly.
Whatever the political mockery, the numbers suggest Prachanda's defense has genuine economic grounding, not just rhetoric.
