Dec. 25: Farmers in three wards of Chhatreshwori Rural Municipality of the district have been making good income from commercial orange farming.

In 2016, the local and provincial governments implemented a programme to develop orange pocket areas, and farmers in wards 1, 2 and 5 of Chhatreshwori Rural Municipality were attracted to commercial orange cultivation.

About 1,200 households of farmers in Chhatreshwori Rural Municipality-2 have been cultivating orange commercially.

After making a good income from the commercial cash crops, farmers here have started expanding their orchards of kiwi, potatoes, timur and oranges as an alternative to traditional food crops like maize, rice and wheat.

Hiralal B.K., a leading farmer of Chhatreshwori Rural Municipality-2, said that he has expanded orange farming in seven ropanis of land from three ropanis of land at the beginning.

According to him, he earns around Rs. 1.5 million annually by selling oranges.

“Previously, indigenous crops such as corn and wheat were grown, and since these crops were not enough for round-the-year consumption, there was a compulsion to go to India to manage foods. Now, with the start of generating significant income from orange farming, the compulsion to go to India has ended,” he said.

Gudhaula Khadka, a single woman in Dhaihi Khola, said that she is now earning a good income from orange farming.

According to her, she planted 30 saplings of oranges in 1998 BS for the first time in the field where she used to grow maize and wheat, and now she expanded orange farming to 6 ropanis of land where 300 trees of orange stand now.

She is now known as a single-woman commercial orange farmer as she is currently earning Rs. 300,000 from selling oranges.

She said that after earning Rs. 300,000 annually, she bought a buffalo for Rs. 80,000 from the orange income and deposited the remaining amount in the bank.

Orange cultivation has been expanded to an area of 100 hectares in these wards. More than 1,626 households here are involved in orange cultivation.

Bel Bahadur Gharti, a farmer from Chhatreshwori Rural Municiplaity-2, said that he earns up to Rs. 2.3 million annually by selling oranges alone.

Gharti, who is engaged in commercial orange cultivation with a goal of increasing the number of orange trees to 2,500 trees, has an orange garden of  1,500 trees.

The Prime Minister Agriculture Modernisation Project has implemented the Orange Zone Programme in Chhatreshwori, Bagchaur Municipality, Siddhakumakh Rural Municipality and Kumakh Rural Municipality to operate programmes and schemes, including fertiliser, seeds, mechanisation, nursery farming expansion, orchard expansion and orchard improvement.