Sweet orange production increases in Ramechhap

By Our Correspondent,Ramechhap, Jan. 7: It has been 40 years since Yugaraj Pakhrin, a farmer in Ramechhap Municipality-6, Okhreni, began commercial cultivation of sweet orange.

Now, his garden spreads in over 15 ropanis of land with 450 fruit bearing trees of sweet orange standing in it. 

Last year, Pakhrin produced more than eight tonnes of sweet oranges and earned Rs. 500,000 by selling them.

It is estimated that around 10 tonnes sweet oranges will be produced this year as better and quality sweet oranges have grown this year than last year. 

Earlier, the farmers used to face market problem, but now they have overcome this problem.  He said, "Nowadays, there is no market problem to sell our sweet oranges. A kilo of sweet orange is sold at Rs. 50 to Rs. 55 per kg at the garden. The rate will reach Rs. 65 per kg in the month of Magh.”

The production of sweet oranges in the garden of Indra Bahadur Tamang of Salu in Manthali Municipality-4, has almost doubled  this year compared to last year.  There are more than 250 fruit bearing sweet orange plants in his garden that spreads nine in ropanis of land.

Tamang has sold sweet oranges worth more than Rs. 100,000 so far this year.

He said that production has increased this year compared to last year and the quality of fruit is also better.

He said, "In the past years, the citrus fly used to damage sweet orange, now this insect has been controlled to a large extent, resulting in better production."

Sweet orange production has increased across the district this year.

According to the Agriculture Knowledge Centre, the production of sweet orange has increased by about 1,068 tonnes this year compared to last year, as the effort to control citrus fly has become effective. Nirmala Gurung, chief of Agriculture Knowledge Centre, Ramechhap, said that around 11,865 tonnes of sweet oranges have been grown in around 791 hectares of land this year.

She said, "The work done by the farmers and agencies related to agriculture in the management of the citrus fly, which is considered as the main enemy of the fruit, is becoming effective. Due to this, the production has increased. But due to the lack of proper management of all gardens, overall production area has not seen the expected increase,” she said.

In the fiscal year 2021/22, around 10,797 tonnes of sweet orange was produced in the district.

 The productivity of sweet oranges in the district was 13.65 tonnes per hectare last year and this year it has increased to 15 tonnes.

He said that the farmers have, of late, been using screen houses, managing citrus fly, using board mixture, pruning old gardens and managing fertilisers and irrigation for quality plant production.

Sweet oranges are produced in sufficient quantities in ward no. 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 of Ramechhap Municipality of the district.

Similarly, wards no. 4, 6, 13 and 9 of Manthali Municipality have also cultivated sweet oranges. According to the statistics of the Centre, around 3,278 hectares of land in the district is covered with  orange and sweet orange trees.