What were you doing at the age of 14? Indra Bahadur Golevane of Bethanchok Rural Municipality-2 Khorathali had come to Delhi, India to work at that age.

After working in a private company in Delhi for 10 years, he came to work in an apple farm in Shimla. This same Indra Bahadur is now 56 years old and he is tending apple trees in his village's apple orchard.

To understand the story of Indra Bahadur's struggle, you have to go back three decades. What he saw in Shimla was a different scene from what he expected. He had seen one farmer planting apples in the village and had only heard that apples are being planted in Humla and Jumla with a large area and investment. Shimla  He was shocked to see apples growing in 5/6 hundred plants. Having only general knowledge about apple cultivation, it took him a few years to understand the cultivation of Italian varieties of apples grown there.

He was getting used to the way of farming by hanging around in the garden . He learned all the work of preparing apple packing, planting, pruning, arranging branches, and picking fruits . Learning one after the other, he also operated a nursery of Italian varieties of apples there . After working for 32 years on a farm in Shimla for months and years, he felt the desire to grow Italian apple in his own village.

He returned to Nepal in 2078. Prepared for the cultivation of Italian varieties of apples in the village. He also told the villagers about the apples of King Road, Red Black, Darken Red Gala, Seneco Gala, Sasso Gala, Tarex Gala Italian varieties that he is going to start cultivating . However, many did not care about the new variety of apple cultivation that he was going to start. Because, Raithane apple was cultivated in the village from earlier. He said that although it is new, it is not of interest to many people. According to him, only Raithane variety apples were grown here. Without good care and care, the apple production was not much .

"When he came back to Nepal to cultivate a new variety of apples, many people in the village did not think it was good," he said, "they have already planted apples here, but they did not grow well, and even though many people said that the climate is not good for new varieties of apples, they started farming regardless." Five hundred apple plants of five varieties have been planted. "From this year, the plant has started bearing fruits little by little," he said, "The seeds are good, if the amount of fertilizer and fertilizer can be adjusted, it will be good next year." "The plants are produced by themselves, the field is their own," he said, "Now we don't have to invest so much, a little has been spent on fertilizers, but a lot has been spent on hard work." According to him, the apple trees that have been planted here already bear fruit only after 5/7 years. It takes about 10 years for a plant to produce well . "Italian variety of apples produce well in 3/4 years". In the third year after planting, one plant produces 7/8 seeds, in the fourth year, one plant produces 50/60 seeds.

According to him, cold climate is suitable for apple cultivation. He said that darken red gala, Seneko gala, SSO gala, Tarex gala apples should be planted at 1500 to 2400 meters above sea level, King Road, Red Black 1800 to 2600 meters. He informed that these types of apples have now been planted in Kavre, Ramechhap, Dolakha, Rasuwa, Mustang, Humla and other high mountain regions of Nepal. According to him, the best time to plant it is Phalgun-Chait . He said that special attention should be paid to Godmel and irrigation after planting. He said that more water does not freeze during rain and drip irrigation system is suitable in winter.

He said that when a new variety of apple cultivation is about to start, those who do not believe about cultivation now go to the orchard to get information. Purushottam Timilsana, the ward president of Bethanchok Rural Municipality 2, said that the apple cultivation he did was new in the village. "He has tried to make good income in the village by making use of the skills he learned abroad," he said, "It is necessary to make use of the skills he has, he will teach other farmers about this type of apple cultivation." According to him, earlier it was used for small area and investment, but recently, apple cultivation has started commercially. "With good prospects for apple production in this area, the number of apple farmers is also increasing," he said, "to make the farmers here professional, the municipality has also started subsidized interest-subsidy loan investment. It is believed that commercial farmers like Indra Bahadur will get more support from this program." The municipality expressed its commitment to support this type of farming. Utilizing Gole's skills, the municipality has planned to produce Italian apple seedlings and operate its nursery in Bethanchowk. He promised that the village council would facilitate the work.

Other news related to apple farming