Myagdi Farmers Earn Nearly NPR 20 Million from Orange Harvest

Myagdi. Farmers in Dosalle, Annapurna Rural Municipality-7, Myagdi, have traded oranges worth approximately NPR 20 million this year.

In Dosalle village, home to 42 households, the orange trade brought in NPR 18 million last year. Prem Paija, Chairman of the Dosalle Commercial Orange Growers Group, informed that although the yield was lower this year, the increased price resulted in earnings comparable to last year. "The yield on the trees was 25 percent less compared to last year," he said, "but because the oranges were sold at a higher price, the income is almost the same as last year." To fetch better prices, farmers started picking and sending oranges to the market after the month of Magh began.

Sixty percent of the oranges from Dosalle's orchards have reached the market; 40 percent are still on the trees. Farmers and traders are busy picking, grading, and dispatching the oranges. Leading farmer Khagbir Paija stated that Dosalle farmers, who started picking oranges late in the season after orchards in many other parts of the country were emptied, received better prices compared to the past.

Another farmer, Bikash Shrestha, mentioned that traders were willing to pay up to NPR 3,200 per crate because oranges from other regions had finished. With traders from Pokhara and Kathmandu coming directly to the orchards to purchase the fruit, orange picking is currently in full swing.

All households in Dosalle engage in orange farming. Migration from the village has stopped. Those who had previously migrated to places like Beni and Pokhara have returned to the village and planted oranges on fallow land.

Dosalle has 10,000 orange trees. The residents of Dosalle, who started orange farming after bringing experts from the Soil Testing Department in Pokhara to test the soil in 2068 BS, have been expanding their orange cultivation every year.