The rural municipality is preparing to make a plan for apple insurance and technical expenses.
What you should know
Until three and a half decades ago, Helambu's apples were very popular. The apple was the hallmark of Helambu. In 041/42, the apple tree became diseased. When it stopped producing, farmers cut down the apple trees and used them as firewood. The apple story became like a fairy tale.
Now, apples have started growing again in Helambu. The efforts made by the residents of this area a decade ago to maintain the apple's identity have started.
The tempting apple trees have changed the face of the village. More than a thousand apple seedlings of advanced varieties have been planted here. Cultivation has started with seedlings brought from Himachal Pradesh, India. After the apples bloomed, the farmers have become more enthusiastic.
'So far, 60 families in the Helambu area have taken up apple farming as a commercial farm. They have not started selling them yet. They have finally started to bloom,' said Birjit Tamang of Helambu Rural Municipality-5.
As apple trees have started to grow in large numbers in the tourist villages, which are the settlements of the Lhyolmo tribe, tourists have also started to be attracted. Tamang said that 11 trees of the Fuji and Gala varieties planted throughout the field have borne abundant apples. 'A single person has planted up to 200 seedlings. I believe that the new generation will also grow apples, I have set a goal to sell 1,500 kg of apples,' he said.
According to Helambu Rural Municipality Chief Nimagyaljen Sherpa, farmers' interest in apple farming has increased. From next year, the rural municipality will prepare an apple development program. Chairman Sherpa informed that the rural municipality will make a plan for apple insurance and technical expenses next year. 'Currently, the municipality has distributed seedlings at a 50 percent subsidy in Helambu 5 Bumbo Danda and other areas, and apples are growing here in abundance,' he said.
