Farmers of Swamikartik earn over Rs. 10 mln by selling apples in Bajura

By Sher Bahadur Sarki, Bajura, Sept 20: Farmers in the Swamikartik Khapar Rural Municipality of the Bajura district have earned over Rs. 10 million by selling organic apples this year.

1,800 households out of 2,400 households in this rural municipality made a good income through the apple sale as the fruits were sold in time this year.

"Previous years we would have to go to market to sell apples, but this year the merchants came to our orchard and they collected all which resulted in our good income at home," said Uttam Shahi, a farmer in the Swamikartik Khapar Rural Municipality.

Over 80% of apples produced in the area has been sold so far.

In the past, people would even use apples as fodder for cattle due to lack of access to market, thanks to the rural municipality that it worked to market the apples.

Bharat Rokaya, Chairperson of Swamikartik Khapar Rural Municipality, said that plans have been made to market apples produced here across the country and provide transport subsidies to the farmers. "Once agricultural experts made it clear that the soil here is good for apple production, we have been consistently encouraging farmers to shift to apple farming and it has yielded results," Rokaya said.