State-owned Nepal Food Corporation (NFC) plans to supply 2,000 goats to control market regulation and fulfill the demand for meat in Kathmandu during Dashain festival.

Non-vegetarians prefer goat meat the most, especially during Dashain, Nepal’s biggest festival. The number of goats supplied during the festival confirms this demand.

Kathmandu alone has a demand for over 60,000 live goats.

NFC Spokesperson Shankar Sapkota said, “Every year we bring a certain number of goats and fix their market price ahead of the festival.”

The NFC will transfer 500 goats from Dang as well as from Makwanpur, while 1,000 mountain goats would arrive from Mustang.

Last year, the NFC had brought 2,500 goats, and a year ago, it had shipped 3,000 goats.

An NFC official said, because of bureaucratic hurdles, the corporation has decreased the number of goats this year.

“There are bureaucratic difficulties because we have different provinces now. Apart from this, our motive is market regulation. The government alone cannot meet Kathmandu’s demand for goats,” said Sapkota.

The NFC will transfer the goats to Kathmandu by October 9. It takes one week to transport mountain goats from Mustang to Kathmandu as shepherds walk them down to Myagdi, before transferring them to Kathmandu. Around a dozen NFC staff move the goats to Kathmandu, Sapkota said, A meeting of the Chief District Officers and local representatives will decide the market price, one week prior to moving the goats to Kathmandu.

Last year, the corporation had fixed the price at Rs 440 per kg for goats weighing less than 25 kg, Rs 450 for above 25kg, and Rs 650 per kg for live mountain goats.

The NFC, in association with the Nepal Salt Trading Corporation and the National Dairy Development Board, will open fair price shops in the Kathmandu valley from September 28.