Myagdi, 7 February: When Jagat Bahadur Khatri, a resident of Banskharka Bazaar in Jaljala Rural Municipality-1 of Parbat, located next to Beni Bazaar, the district headquarters of Myagdi, started orange farming four decades ago, his family members and neighbors expressed fear that he would have to go hungry.
“I was even scolded for not being able to eat the grain after planting only oranges, I was scared,” says Khatri. “This year alone, we have sold oranges worth Rs. 4 million. It is estimated that if we sell the entire orchard, we will reach Rs. 4.5 million.” Khatri has 1,593 orange trees on his 36 ropani land. This year, 480 trees have produced 34,000 kilograms of oranges.
He says that when all the trees bear fruit, oranges worth more than Rs 10 million will be sold annually. Traders from Kathmandu have bought oranges from the orchard at a rate of Rs 120 per kilo. 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 about change in 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 them because they were so sweet. Father Min Bahadur Khatri added 25 plants to the garden in 2033 BS. It produced good yields within five years. Oranges found a market in the village. Since they were easily sold, it became easier to earn cash and run the household.
The village of orange
The Khatri family is earning millions from oranges in the village without having to go abroad or even to the city. Khatri has been adding plants every year. All the fields that used to grow millet, corn, and rice now have only orange trees. Oranges have grown in all the fields except the house and courtyard. Even the nearby hay fields are full.
While he was a teacher for thirty-five 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 in 20 ropanis, said that he has sold oranges worth Rs 2.3 million and Hem Kumar Armaja, who has a garden of 800 trees, said that he has sold oranges worth Rs 3 million.
In Bansakharka, which is located at an altitude of 1,100 to 1,900 meters above sea level, 200 out of 239 households cultivate oranges. One family sells oranges worth at least Rs. 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 this year from 26,706 trees. There are 51,151 orange trees in Bansakharka. Twenty-four thousand four hundred and 45 orange trees are yet to bear fruit.
When orchards in other parts of the country are empty, traders buy oranges from Bansakharka and take them away. 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.
