Myagdi, 25 January: An orange festival was held on Friday in Banskhark, Jaljala Rural Municipality-1 of Parbat, located next to Beni Bazaar, the district headquarters of Myagdi. The festival featured dissemination of orange farming technology, interviews between farmers and stakeholders, orange exhibition, awarding of best farmers, and performances of local traditional folk songs, hymns, and panchebaja.
Ward Chairman Jag Bahadur Roka said that the Jaljala Rural Municipality and Ward No. 1 Office organized the festival with the aim of highlighting the potential of orange farming in Bansakharka and drawing the attention of stakeholders to solve the problems of farmers.
On the occasion of the festival, leading farmers Jagat Bahadur Khatri, Shanta Bahadur Chhintel and Hem Kumar Armaja, Tej Bahadur Khatri and Nar Bahadur Paija were honored with a cash award of Rs. 5,000. The guests were welcomed with orange garlands and bid farewell with oranges. The mother group presented hymns and songs related to orange farming.
Raju Prasad Acharya, the chairman of Jaljala Rural Municipality, said that the Orange Festival held in Bansakharka, where oranges ripened in abundance and became a paradise, has also helped in promoting agro-tourism and preserving original folk culture.
Orange tree of Banskharka
Farmers and people’s representatives drew attention to the issues of roads, irrigation, drinking water and landslides with Gandaki Province Chief Minister Surendra Raj Pandey, Minister for Agriculture, Land Management and Cooperatives Padyama GC Shrestha, Minister for Industry and Tourism Mitra Lal Basyal, National Assembly member Manarupa Sharma, Province MPs Bhakta Kunwar, Rekha Gurung, Gandaki Province Chief Secretary Raghuram Bista and Agriculture Secretary Basudev Regmi, who came to participate in the festival.
“We have brought the issue of orange farming expansion due to irrigation problems, landslides putting orange farms and settlements at risk, and the problem of oranges being crushed and destroyed while being transported through unpaved roads to the higher-ups of the state government,” said Acharya, the rural municipality chairperson. “We have also drawn the attention of the guests who came to participate in the festival to the issue of the inability to operate the greenhouse built eight years ago due to electricity problems.”
Chairman Acharya drew the Chief Minister’s attention to the fact that despite the contract for the short-distance Bagarphant-Basakharka road project connecting Beni to Bansakharka, work has not been done for eight years and the plan has been lost. He informed about the problem of water supply not being distributed despite the construction of taps and installation of meters in every household.
He urged coordination with Annapurna Rural Municipality of Myagdi to ensure regular water supply to the Mallaj Irrigation Project and to arrange a pipeline to irrigate the orange orchards of Bansakharka.
Banskharka cultural maruni dance
Chief Minister Pandey, ministers and MPs pledged to help in upgrading the road connecting Bansakharka, irrigation facilities, expansion of orange cultivation and marketing. Stating that priority has been given to the agriculture and tourism sectors, Chief Minister Pandey said that road, irrigation and drinking water infrastructure plans have been implemented to stop migration, increase agricultural production and help in marketing.
“We will soon address the problems you have been facing in transporting oranges,” said Chief Minister Pandey. “This year too, the provincial government has allocated a budget of Rs 110 million for various infrastructure projects in Jaljala Rural Municipality.”
Minister for Agriculture Shrestha said that the Hill Fruit Development Project (NAFA) has been implemented in Bansakharka and Jaljala rural municipalities to expand orange cultivation and promote the market, and through it, farmers will be provided with subsidies under various headings. Minister for Tourism Basyal pledged to take initiatives to make Bansakharka an agri-tourism destination.
Many people in Bansakharka, which has 239 houses spread over an altitude of 1,100 to 1,900 meters above sea level, cultivate oranges. Bansakharka, which has an area of ​​1,500 ropanis under orange cultivation, has produced oranges worth 184.447 million this year, informed the festival’s leading farmer Mekh Bahadur Khatri.
According to him, a farmer sells oranges worth Rs 400,000 to 350,000 annually. Farmers in Bansakharka have started picking oranges since the month of Magh(January) after oranges from elsewhere have been sold. The oranges cultivated in Bansakharka have been certified as indigenous varieties.
