Last July alone, 92 lakh 94 thousand kg of apples worth 1 billion 544 million rupees were imported.
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Although apples are produced in the Himalayan districts of all 6 provinces except Madhesh, the import is increasing every year. In the first month of the financial year 2082/83, 92 lakh 94 thousand kg of apples worth 1.5 billion 44 lakh rupees have been imported in July.
Apples are mainly imported from China and India in Nepal. According to the data of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, 52 lakh 43 thousand kg of apples worth 72 crore 99 lakh rupees were imported from China and 4 lakh 50 thousand kg of apples from India worth 32 crore 44 lakh rupees in July last year.
In the last fiscal year 2081/82, 92 million 253 thousand 125 kg of apples were imported worth 10 billion 55 million 75 million rupees. 7 crore 98 lakh 65 thousand kg of apples worth 9 billion 74 crore 16 lakh rupees were imported from China. According to the data of the Ministry of Agriculture, 1 crore 3 lakh 87 thousand kilos worth Rs 81 crore 59 lakh were imported from India.
In the financial year 2080/81, 821 million 45 thousand kilos of apples were imported worth 8 billion 44 million 89 million rupees. 7 crore 11 lakh 81 thousand kg worth 7 billion 57 crore 46 lakh rupees were imported from China and 1 crore 8 lakh 81 thousand kg worth 85 crore 89 lakh rupees from India. According to data, 20 thousand kg of apples worth Rs 44 lakh were imported from New Zealand that year.
Although there are around 12 thousand 494 hectares of apple cultivation in the country, the production area is 6 thousand 285 hectares. In the financial year 2080/81, 54 thousand 506 tons of apples were produced. Apple productivity is 8.67 tonnes per hectare. Although Karnali is ahead in production, Gandaki is first in terms of productivity. Apple cultivation is mostly in Karnali region. Production is also done in Karnali. But the productivity is in Gandaki province according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
In Karnali, 8 thousand 928 hectares are cultivated, but the production area is 3 thousand 651 hectares. In the financial year 2080/81, 32 thousand 952 tons of apples were produced in Karnali. Productivity is 9.03 tonnes per hectare. During this period, 9,644 tons of apples were produced in Gandaki. Gandaki has 851 hectares of land suitable for apple production. According to the Ministry, the productivity is 11.33 tons per hectare.
According to the ministry's data, 5 thousand 115 tons of apples were produced in Lumbini in the previous financial year. In Lumbini, apples are grown on 695 hectares of cultivable land. According to the Ministry, the productivity is 7.36 tons per hectare. 4 thousand 7 tons were produced in 574 hectares in Far West, 1 thousand 903 tons were produced in 333 hectares in Koshi. According to the ministry, 885 tons of apples were produced in 851 hectares in Bagmati.
Agriculture Ministry officials say that import of apples will not stop for another 10 years. Recently, there is an understanding that fruits are only apples. Although there is a possibility of producing fruits such as pears, bhuinkathar, treekathar, apples are more preferred," said Ramakrishna Regmi, senior statistics officer of the ministry, "recently, there is no longer a belief that the road network has not been able to reach the market. After the road network was connected everywhere, the wasted apples have come to the market. To increase the production of apples, seed production has also been started in Mustang.
Bhim Bahadur Rokaya of Simkot rural municipality-7 of Humla has planted about 300 apple seedlings in about 9 nurseries. Out of that, about 50 quintals of apples were grown from 200 trees that produced last year. This year they are preparing to send apples to Nepalgunj and Surkhet by road. "It is not possible to send it out by paying 120 rupees per kilo on the ship," he said.
Dan Bahadur Budha of Simkot-6 is also preparing to send apples out this year. About 250 apple trees have been planted in 7 orchards and 100 trees are producing in his garden. He is ready to export at least 40 quintals of apples this year.
After Humla headquarters was connected to the national road network on June 22, the apples of Humla have started going to big cities by vehicle. Apples have been cultivated in an area of about 518 hectares in all 7 rural municipalities including Simkot. According to the data of the District Agricultural Development Office, about 4 thousand metric tons of apples will be produced this year. Due to the inconvenience of roads, apples produced in Humla were prone to rot every year. About 25 large apple farms are operating in Simkot alone. Namgyal Tamang, the former president of the Humla Industry and Commerce Association said that even if at least 80 percent of the apples produced find a market, within two years Humla will become self-sufficient from apples.
The apple of Dolpa, which is cultivated in about 800 hectares, has also started to go out of the road since last year. But since the Jajarkot-Dolpa road is not paved and there are still no bridges over the various rivers, out of the 7,000 metric tons of apples produced last year, only 4,000 tons of apples were produced, said Agricultural Development Officer on behalf of the National Agricultural Modernization Project, Apple Zone, Govinda Bahadur Malla. According to him, apple production has increased this year. He estimated that about 8 thousand tons of apples were produced this year.
Apple grows in all the local levels of Jumla, Mugu and Kalikot, Himalayan districts of Karnali along with Dolpa and Humla. In Karnali, about 12,500 metric tons of apples are produced in Jumla in about 3,100 hectares. Now there is a wave of apple cultivation in the villages of Jumla. Meen Bahadur Bhandari of Jumla's Guthichour rural municipality-5 said that Fuji, Gala, Kinrad and Golden varieties of apples are being produced the most in Karnali. He has established an apple orchard for four years with an investment of about 22 crore rupees. Last year, 80 metric tons of apples were grown in his garden, where he planted about 48,000 seedlings. He said that traders used to go to the garden to buy apples. The farm aims to produce two hundred tons of apples this year.
Now the demand for Jumli apples has reached the international market, said Tank Giri of Guthichaur-3. He has established an apple orchard by planting 14,000 saplings on 22 hectares of land with an investment of around 7.5 crores. "Earlier there was no road, when apples could not be delivered to the market, it was feed for cattle," he said.
Jumla was declared an organic district by the 14th Zilla Parishad of the former District Development Committee in 2057 and promoted the concept of 'One House, One Apple Garden'. According to the data of the District Agriculture Development Office, about 16,000 out of 19,000 families in Jumla are involved in apple cultivation. Farmer Manprasad Neupane said that now apples are being sold at 50 rupees per kg in Jumla. He complains that the importance of Jumla apple is decreasing due to lack of proper storage and management.
Businessman Lalit Budha said that when the Karnali highway is repeatedly blocked, it is affecting the apple farmers. Karna Bahadur Budthapa, a businessman from Jumla, said, "Road closure is a problem for years. Even if the vehicle is stopped for a day, millions of apples rot." Now he is buying apples from farmers at Rs 50 per kg. Delivery to Surkhet and Nepalgunj including purchase of cartons and vehicle transport will cost an additional 20 rupees per kg. He complained that he is now having to sell apples for 100 rupees despite renting them at the cold store in Nepalgunj. He says that Indian apples are also being sold at Rs 120 per kg, so there is a problem in selling them. According to him, the season of jumli apples ends after Dasain-Tihar, except those kept in cold storage.
Another businessman Manoj Bohra said that apples costing Rs 50 per kg in Jumla are sold up to Rs 250 in Kathmandu. "There is a difference of 200 rupees per kilo between the consumer and the farmer, transportation, packaging and grading costs a maximum of 50 to 70 rupees," he said.
According to the data of Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives of Karnali Province, apples are being cultivated on 3,419 hectares in Karnali. According to the ministry, 31 thousand 1 hundred 2 metric tons of apples were produced last year. Acting Secretary of the Ministry Parashuram Rawat said that it is estimated that apples will be produced in the same area this year. According to him, due to storage problems, lack of grading, road inconvenience, problems in packaging, there is a problem in getting Karnali apples to the market and getting a good price.
"Farmers have not been able to get the market and price as they said. Farmers sell apples at 50 rupees per kg, the price is 125 rupees in Surkhet and 250 rupees in Kathmandu," he said. gave
Trucks carrying food and construction materials from Surkhet and Nepalganj now return loaded with apples from Jumla, Mugu and Kalikot. Some of the mango farmers are sending raw apples to the market in the last week of July, fearing that they will not be sold later. Karna Bahadur Mahtara, a farmer of the local Mugu Talcha, said that even though juicy and sweet apples will be produced after August 15, they are forced to pick and send some of them in August due to the fear that the apples will not be sold when they go to the cities. ``Half of the apples were sent to the market raw,'' he said, 'Even now, selling at 50 rupees per kg is hardly a problem. We have not been able to make as much profit from farming as we expected. If the wholesalers came directly and bought from us, we would have got some concessions.' According to him, Karnali apples are now reaching all over the country. He said that Karnali apples are organic because no chemical fertilizers, pesticides or any other chemicals are used. He says that if attention is paid to quality production, grading, leveling and packaging, demand will increase in the international market as well. He informed that there was a problem in the production due to the infection of Lykira, Zhusilkira and the disease caused by the powdery mildew in apples.
