Traders who have contracted orange orchards from farmers are excited as production is expected to increase by 30 percent compared to last year.
What you should know
Buddhi Ale, who had taken up a contract to work in the orchards of Yangdi, Gandaki Rural Municipality-2, before Dashain, is currently busy picking Pahelpur oranges.
Ale had taken the orchards of five farmers on contract before Dashain. ‘It has been 20/22 years since I started selling oranges like this. This year, I have bought oranges by investing Rs. 2.5 million in the Yangdi area alone,’ he said. ‘You take the contract after looking at the orchard, sometimes you have to be able to make a profit and sometimes a loss.’
Ale is currently struggling to grade the oranges picked from the trees and take them to the market. ‘I have separated them into four grades and taken them to the market.’ he said. ‘The price ranges from Rs. 80 to Rs. 120 per kg according to the grade.’
Farmers have also given the orchards to traders on contract. Tul Bahadur Thapa from Yangdi sold 87 orange trees for Rs. 380,000. Tul Bahadur says that there is no hassle in taking the orchards to the market when the traders sell the orchards. He said that the enthusiasm has increased after the good orange yield in Yangdi this year. ‘We cultivated oranges on land that used to grow rice and corn. We used to earn not even 10,000 from traditional farming. We have started earning lakhs after three years of planting oranges,’ he said.
There are more than 100 farmers who cultivate oranges commercially in Yangdi area alone. Ek Bahadur Thapa, the chairman of the Orange Producers Agricultural Cooperative, said that after the old orchards were destroyed, they started producing oranges by planting new seedlings. ‘Earlier, oranges were very good. Even five years ago, oranges worth up to 10 million were sold from this village,’ Thapa said. ‘Old plants are dying, income from new plants has not come yet. This year, we estimate that oranges worth around 5 million will be sold from the village.’
He also said that a single farmer in Yangdi area sold up to 5.5 million oranges. Thapa has sold oranges from new plants planted in an area of 10 ropanis for Rs 100,000 this year. He estimates that the annual production of oranges from the new plants will reach Rs 1 million.
The National Agricultural Modernization Program Implementation Unit, Gorkha, has been supporting the promotion of orange cultivation in the district. Unit head Purna Dhungana said that orange production will increase in wards 9 and 10 of Gandaki, Shahid Lakhan, Bhimsen Thapa, Gorkha Municipality and Palungtar, where orange cultivation is promoted through the Orange Zone Program, compared to last year. ‘We estimate that orange production will increase by 30 percent compared to last year,’ she said. ‘This year, 2,990 metric tons are expected to be produced across the district. The new plants planted by farmers last year have also started producing this year.’
She said that orange cultivation is being carried out in an area of 1,097 hectares in the district. More than 300 farmers in the district are involved in orange farming. The oranges produced in the district are being sold to cities including Kathmandu and Pokhara.
