In Chhatreshwari Rural Municipality-2 Dahkhola, the ripe oranges are being damaged by blight disease. Due to the lack of efforts to control the disease, the disease has been observed in the orange plants and ripe fruits of almost one plantation. Due to the disease, the orange leaves are drying up and the ripe seeds are turning black.

After easy sales and good income, the farmers of Dahkhola left food crops and cultivated oranges on more than 500 plantations of land and have been doing business of more than one crore rupees a year. But the disease is spreading rather than being controlled and the farmers are worried after the buyers refuse to buy the ripe oranges. 

Local Topendra Dangi said that 300 orange trees in his three orchards were affected due to the blight disease that appeared around the first week of last October. He said that the ripe fruits and leaves of the plants are drying up due to the disease.

After the oranges are ripe in the garden, one or two outside buyers are coming and taking 60 rupees per kilo of oranges a day. No one wants to buy an orange that has blight. A lot of oranges have been wasted," he said. According to Dangi, there was a loss of about 4 lakhs after the buyer refused to take it. 

Out of 300 oranges planted in 15 plantations, more than 100 plants have been destroyed by the disease, said Atiram Vick of Dahkhola. He says that despite the use of pesticides, the plant itself is dying.

'The orange on the plant looks yellow. From the yellow outside, the orange is darkened with a black shade. It didn't turn black even after washing it with water," he said. "Until last year, I sold more than 2 lakhs. This year it was wasted because of the disease.'