Farmers from Ward No. 4 of Bethanchok Rural Municipality have received a two-day training on orange farming. The training was organized by the municipality’s Agriculture Development Branch, and 40 farmers participated. Madhusudan Dahal, Chief of the Agriculture Development Branch, provided this information.
The training, held at the ward office hall under the orange promotion program, was facilitated by Rama Karki, Crop Protection Officer from the Agriculture Development Office, Kavre, and Umesh Sapkota from the Horticulture Development Center, Panchkhal.
Explaining the program, Krishna Bahadur Lama, Chairperson of Ward No. 4, mentioned that farmers often face problems such as wilting plants, decreased fruit quality, and eventually declining production due to diseases affecting orange trees. He emphasized that the municipality organized the training to provide timely information to prevent these issues and ensure farmers do not experience such problems.
Madhusudan Dahal highlighted that good management of the orchard’s geographical features, maintenance, fertilization, and pest control would enable farmers to benefit from orange farming. He noted that the problems seen in orange orchards are due to neglect and encouraged farmers to be proactive. Dahal also mentioned that the fertile areas in Ward No. 4 and surrounding regions are suitable for orange cultivation, promising good returns for diligent farmers.
To address issues such as fruit drop, the municipality’s agriculture branch and the ward are distributing insecticides and protein brickettes for plants. Additionally, it has been decided to distribute 5,000 saplings to farmers for orange orchard development in the upcoming month of Asar (June-July). The municipality had also distributed protein brickettes to farmers last year.