Blocked road keeps Bajura apples out of market

By Sher Bahadur Sarki, Bajura, Sept. 16: Apples produced in several local levels in the north-eastern region of Bajura district, which are meant to be transported to markets across the country, remain stored in farms. 

The reason? The Martadi-Kolti road remains blocked. 

Dhan Bahadur Rawal, an apple farmer of Swamikartik Rural Municipality-1, said a lot of apples have ripened in his field, but that the closure of Martadi-Kolti road has meant that there is a problem taking them to the city for sale.

“Every year at this time, when apples start ripening in our village, roads get blocked,” he complained.

Apples in the Himali, Swamikartik, and Jagganath Rural Municipalities, as well as Budhinanda Municipality start ripening in the orchid from the second week of Nepali month of Bhadra.

“There is no market near the village for those apples. We need road to transport them to the market, but sadly, it is blocked. If we transport them through a labourer, the price will elevate,” he said.

The road has been closed for a long time due to a landslide in the middle of the Martadi-Kolti road. If this road is not repaired in time, apple farmers there worry that their produce will rot in their farms.

Rawal said that despite growing organic apples in the remote areas of Bajura, some apples rotted in the field because they could not be taken to the market in time.

Information Officer of Agricultural Knowledge Centre Bajura, Min Prasad Jaishi, said that they have also arranged a subsidy along with cartoons for the delivery of apples from the farmer’s fields to the market.

“The road is not open now. But after a few days, it will be opened, then the farmers can sell apples to different cities of the country,” he said.

Work started a week ago to reopen the Martadi-Kolti road section. Persistent rains have posed problem in repairing the road. As soon as the rains stops, the road will be restored within a day or two, said Rudra Bogati, chief of Infrastructure Development, Achham.

In Bajura, around 1,020 tonnes of apples are produced in around 170 hectares of land covered by apple orchids.

Jaishi, however, said that apple production is expected to decrease by two per cent this year.

Previously, apples were produced only in Jagganath, Budhinanda and Swamikartik, but now they are also produced in Gaumul, Khapatad and Chhededaha Rural Municipalities.

He said that local, Fuji, Gala and Golden varieties of apples are produced in Bajura.