Krishnajang Rayamazhi, who is known as a hardworking farmer of Melamchi municipality-5 Sindhukot village, has been cultivating fruit commercially for nine years. It has been 60 years since he retired after being in the teaching profession for about 31 years. However, Rayamazhi's vigor and enthusiasm is no less than that of any youth.
Earning 10 lakhs annually from fruit farming, he has planted orange, 200 junar and 1000 lemon plants in 10 plantations. "After taking a leave from teaching service, I started working in the agricultural profession, wondering what to do with empty hands, now I have started to enjoy it. Since this will bring good income with less suffering, I have started emphasizing on it," said Rayamazhi.
Rayamazhi, who has so far taken a loan from the cooperative and invested 90 million of his own, plans to reap the fruits of his investment and hard work from fruit farming in the next two years. This time, 10 tons of oranges, junar and lemons produced in the garden have been delivered from Bolero to various places in the capital for sale, he said.
This time oranges, junar and lemons worth 8 lakhs have been sold, he said. Fruits take at least four or five years to generate income. As a result, although it started bearing fruit after four years, it took five years to give good income,'' he said. He still remembers the happy moment when 5,000 kg of lemons grew in the first two years. He said that due to the high demand for lemons, he could not deliver as much as he said.
Rayamazhi is no less than 57-year-old Resham Bhandari of Zangarila Sunkorsi Rural Municipality-6 Pakhardovan village. From the year 2007, he started cultivating fruit commercially on five plantations of land. "I have planted lychee in four plantations and avocado coffee in four plantations, 11 lakhs have been invested in different ways including fertilizer irrigation," Bhandari said.
In his garden, 3,000 to 3200 kg of lychees are produced annually. He said that 60 litchi, 52 avocado and 200 bimiro plants were planted in the field. ``Selling fruits like lychee and avocado earns an annual income of 7 lakhs, many farmers like me seem to be engaged in fruit farming commercially, the government does not seem to be doing anything special for the farmers,'' he said.
Bhoj Bahadur Karki of Chautara Sangachokgadhi Municipality-1 Syaule was engaged in fruit farming before the earthquake. He said that he had planted 200 orange trees, junar and other fruits on the 10-plant land and made a magnificent garden.
"You can earn 4 to 5 lakh annually not only from oranges, but also from fruits," said Karkir . Rishiram Bhattarai, Rajendra Acharya of Indrawati rural municipality ward 8 and 9 of Bhotsipa have planted 500 pomegranate plants in 20 seedlings.
Navraj Thapa, a fruit farmer of Bahrbise Municipality-9 Ramche Thotneri, said that even though he has income from fruits, he is bothered by the problem of insects and spoilage. "Oranges cannot depend only on the local market, Kathmandu should be chosen for this," said Thapa. Thapa planted orange, junar, and moosam in three plants.
According to Krishi Gyan Kendra Kavre, about 3,000 metric tons of fruits are produced annually in an area of 542 hectares. In 079/080 in Sindhupalchowk, 90 70 metric tons of orange and junar varieties have been produced . It is said that only fruits worth 10 crores have been produced from the entire district.
