सिंहदरबार संवाददाता
Myagdi. After the spread of the Corona epidemic, during the lockdown (bandabandi) since Chaitra 2076 BS, a businessman from Beni, Bikash Shrestha, who reached Dosalle, Annapurna Rural Municipality-7, Myagdi, came up with the idea of buying the same land and building a house and garden.
Bikash, who has been doing poultry and real estate business in Beni, built a house in the village for his hobby and bought the Dosalle village, which he bought to live in, has now become lush green.
‘I bought land in Dosalle to live in a peaceful environment in my old age,’ he said. ‘I grew an orange grove while working.’ After the family and relatives of the landowner who were in Portugal for employment migrated to Pokhara, the orange orchard on the land purchased by Bikash stopped receiving care. The orchard had turned into a bush.
At the Annapurna Fruit, Vegetable and Agricultural Farm run by Shrestha, 150 old orange trees have started producing after receiving fertilizer and care. Seven more plants are growing in the garden.
Shrestha said that 35 million rupees have been invested in the farm, including fencing the orchard, building a fence, digging a pit to plant orange seedlings, mulching, fertilizing, building structures, and purchasing land.
‘This year, oranges worth 1.5 million were sold,’ he said. ‘I thought I could earn so much from agriculture, but I felt and experienced that it would be possible if I could do it. I have expanded the farm by buying an additional four ropani garden.’
Vikas, who got involved in agriculture after being influenced by the life of his late grandfather, Suryanarayan Shrestha, said. Three people have regular employment on his farm. Along with orange farming, local and broiler chickens are also raised on the farm.
Shreshta has experience that chicken manure is useful for oranges. Shrestha said that he has not received any subsidy from the government agency for the agricultural farm so far. He said that after directly contacting traders in Balkhu, Kathmandu and starting to send oranges, he got a fair price and a market was assured.
Shreshta, who left the real estate business and started farming, has entrusted his son Adesh with the responsibility of operating the Jaleshwor Poultry Farm in Beni, which sells feed and chicks. In a time when migration to foreign countries and cities is increasing for opportunities, convenience and employment, Shrestha has become an example for farmers who have gone from the market to the village and started farming.
Khagabir Paija, a leading farmer from Dosalle, said that those who left the village after Shrestha came from Beni and started orange farming have returned and started cultivating oranges. ‘He (Vikas) has not only made good use of the barren land,’ Paija said, ‘He has introduced new technologies for orange farming in the village. Those who went to the market after learning from him have returned to the village and cultivated oranges.’
Paija said that the number of people coming to buy land for orange farming has increased and the price of farmland has also increased. Farmers and businessmen from Beni and surrounding areas come to visit the orange orchard under development. The Nilgiri and Dhaulagiri mountains can be seen in the background from the orchard. Shrestha, who has built a house in the middle of the orchard for guests and himself, has a plan to connect his farm with agritourism.
Farmers in Dosalle, located at an altitude of 1,500 meters above sea level, have made orange farming their main source of income. Prem Paija, the president of the Dosalle Orange Farmers’ Group, said that all 42 households here cultivate oranges.
He said that Dosalle, which sold oranges worth 8 million last year, has produced oranges worth 18 million this year.
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