Rudri Budha of Tripurasundari Municipality-4 is shocked after traders from outside the district came to his house to buy apples. The old man who planted around 200 apple trees has earned one and a half lakh per week. After all the apples are sold at a good price at the beginning of the season, he is planning to plant them in vacant land as well.

This year, 55 rupees were sold in the garden, 35 rupees were sold in the garden, he said. If there was a good road to the village, we would get more price.' He said that because the condition of the road is not good, the traders are afraid to put more price. 

Tripurasundari-4's Vishnu Bohra doesn't even have time to eat well these days. After reaching the merchant who buys apples, he has to pick them, pack them in cartons and carry them to the place where the car is. "For 6/7 days, we don't even have time to eat because of the apple work, we go to the garden as a family in the morning, we have to return to have a quick meal and work until the evening," he said .

He said that out of his three gardens, not many plants have grown this year. As the family members are not able to do it, they have to hire workers to pick them. Another farmer of Ranggaon, Gyan Bahadur Budha, has planted walnuts along with apples. He said that if the apples here are graded well and sold, they will get more value.

In Rangaon, which has about 300 households, most of the households have planted apples. At this time, from children to the elderly, they are busy picking and packing apples. It is estimated that every house in the village will earn from apples this year from 50 thousand to 2 lakh. President of 4 Ranjit Budha said.

'This year, it is estimated that Ranggaon alone will bring in 10 million, the farmers are happy after getting the price from the traders in the village,' he said, 'Earlier, we were worried because there was no market for apples, but now we have stopped planting other crops and have started planting apples.'

Ward office created an apple pocket area and fenced the garden and appointed staff to protect it. In Rang village alone, about 20 hectares of apples have been planted, so in a few years, all of them started bearing fruit, and it is estimated that half of the market in West Nepal will be cultivated, said Budha.

Apple has been cultivated commercially in the villages of Jiu, Sun, Tripurakot, Madhu and other villages of Tripurasundari municipality. Apart from this, there is commercial farming in Thulieveri Municipality, Kaike Rural Municipality, Jagdulla and Mudkechula Rural Municipality. Until a few years ago, the apple of Dolpa, which rotted in the plant due to lack of market, now reaches Nepalgunj, Surkhet, Dang, Dhangadhi, Pokhara and other cities.

Regular direct road transport is not connected to Dolpa. In Hiaud, from cities like Kathmandu, Nepalgunj, etc., the train can reach Dolpa directly, but in Barkha, the river has to be transferred to another train at four/five places . Traders say that there is no bridge over the small river on the road connecting Dolpa and the road is also unpaved so they have to carry it in another vehicle. 

Even though the national road network was connected directly to Dolpa in November 2015, the road facilities are not good. The part of the 118 km long Bheri Corridor from Talnubagar to Dunai is unpaved . In the meantime, because there are many rivers, there is a compulsion to carry the goods in four/five places in Barkha. With the upgrading of the Bheri Corridor, if the road leading to the village is good, the farmers expect to get better prices for all the produce here. 

There is no bridge in the river in the middle of the unpaved road, so passengers have to change their vehicles in half a dozen places for 6 months a year . Even during the apple season, traders are complaining that they have to endure a lot of trouble to take the apples picked at this time to the market as the traders reach the village from the end of July for the purchase of apples.

Dolpa apples are in high demand in urban areas because they are organic and sweet in taste. Due to the lack of good roads, we have also suffered losses, so we have not been able to give a very good price. Dumbar Bahadur Wali, who came to buy apples from Bagchaur municipality of Salyan, said, "If the farmers are taught grading skills and the highways are improved, no one can follow the demand and prices of Dolpa apples. Even if the highways are open to the village, no one can follow them." Not yet upgraded . Even though the road reaches the village, there is no road around the orchard, and the amount of transportation increases and the problem of having to carry it to the road is said by the colored apple farmers.

According to Karopgard, the area police office, 276 tons of apples have been released from August 7 to Sunday. According to the police, the process of apple extraction is still continuing. Last year, about 150 metric tons of apples went out of the district from Dolpa.  

According to the apple zone office under the Prime Minister's Agriculture Modernization Project, 80 percent of apples have been sold so far this year. Govinda Bahadur Malla, Head of Apple Zone Office Dolpa under the Prime Minister's Agriculture Modernization Project, says that even if the price is increased by 15 to 20 rupees per kilo, if the condition of the road is improved and cold stores are built, the price can be saved after the season is over.

"The price can be increased by emphasizing the production of other dishes made from apples, such as jamjeli, wine, rice, and only the economic condition of Dolpali farmers will improve," he said. He said that apple farmers will not be able to earn a good income until there is a direct vehicle from Dolpa to Nepalganj, Surkhet.