सिंहदरबार संवाददाता
Myagdi. Jagat Bahadur Khatri, a resident of Bansakharka, Jaljala Rural Municipality-1, Parbat, located next to Beni Bazaar, the district headquarters of Myagdi, was afraid that he would have to go hungry when he started orange farming four decades ago.
‘I was even scolded for not being able to eat the grain after planting only oranges, I was afraid,’ Khatri said, ‘This year alone, oranges worth 4 million have been sold. It is estimated that if the entire garden is sold, it will reach 4.5 million.’
Khatri has 1,593 orange trees on his 36 ropanis of land. This year, 480 plants have produced 34,000 kilograms of oranges.
He says that when all the plants bear fruit, oranges worth more than 10 million will be sold annually. Traders from Kathmandu have bought oranges from the orchard at a rate of 120 per kilogram. At this time, Khatri is in a hurry to pick oranges and send them to the market.
The path shown by his grandfather has brought change to the family of retired teacher Khatri. In 1997 BS, Khatri’s grandfather had planted five orange trees in Bansakharka. At that time, many people would ask for it because it was very sweet.
Babu Min Bahadur Khatri added 25 plants to his garden in 2033 BS. It gave a good yield in five years. Oranges found a market in the village. After being sold easily, it became easy to earn cash and run the household.
The Khatri family is earning lakhs from oranges in the village without having to go abroad or even go to the city. Khatri has been adding plants every year. All the gardens that used to grow millet, corn and rice now have only orange trees. Oranges are grown in all the fields except the house and courtyard. The nearby fields are also full.
While working as a teacher for 35 years, Khatri had invested in oranges while living in the village. He has also spent his retirement in orange farming. His four daughters got married and went home. Khatri’s entire family, including his graduate son Rajan and daughter-in-law, are engaged in orange farming.
Not only Khatri, but many farmers in Bansakharka have made orange farming their main source of income. Shanta Bahadur Chhintel of Bansakharka, who has planted 950 orange trees on 20 ropanis, said that oranges worth 2.3 million and Hem Kumar Armaja, who has a garden of 800 trees, said that oranges worth 3 million were sold.
Out of 239 households in Bansakharka, which is at an altitude of 1,100 to 1,900 meters above sea level, 200 households cultivate oranges. One family sells oranges worth at least 500,000 annually.
Ward Chairman Jag Bahadur Roka said that oranges are cultivated on 1,500 ropanis of land in Bansakharka. He said that oranges worth Rs 184.4 million have been produced in 26,706 trees this year.
There are 51,151 orange trees in Bansakharka. 24,445 orange trees are yet to bear fruit. Traders buy oranges from Bansakharka when orchards in other parts of the country are empty.
Big traders from Pokhara, Kathmandu and Chitwan come to Bansakharka to buy oranges. Farmers of Bansakharka have said that if the road connecting Beni to Bansakharka via Bagarphant is upgraded and regular and systematic irrigation facilities are provided, income can be increased by expanding orange cultivation.
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