Orange worth Rs. 30 million sold from Tanahun's single ward

By Our Correspondent,Tanahun, Dec. 7: Oranges worth more than Rs. 30 million have been sold from a single ward of Devghat Rural Municipality in Tanahun district. 

Farmers of Batak, Lungring, Chhipchhipe, Chhapswanra and Dagara of Devghat Rural Municipality-3 sold oranges of the said amount this year, according to Agriculture Knowledge Centre, Tanahun.

Chairman of Devghat Area Development Committee and orange farmer Bhim Bahadur Rana said that the contractors paid in advance to the farmers of the village to purchase oranges worth Rs. 30 million this year.

Rana said that the production of oranges has declined by half this year compared to last year's production.

Normally, oranges are produced more one year and less the next year, he added.

He said, "Last year, I sold oranges worth Rs. 4.5 million, but this year, due to a decline in production, it is seen that my income will decrease by Rs. 1.5 million to Rs. 3 million." 

Chairman Rana said that farmers from Ward No. 3 alone are earning more than Rs. 30 million annually by selling oranges. 

He informed that oranges worth more than Rs. 2 million were sold from a single house in Lungring of Devghat Rural Municipality-3.

Farmer Prem Thapa said that orange farmers were facing problems in transporting them to the market. 

He said that there is no bridge over the Trishuli and Seti rivers to connect the villages of Batak, Lungring, Chhipchipe, Chhapswanra and Dagara with the highway, so it is difficult to transport oranges to the market. 

According to him, farmers in Lungring and Chhipchhipe bring oranges through jeeps to Naldighat along the Buddha Singh road and Gaighat along the Mugling-Narayangadh road, and carry them from there to the highway by crossing a suspension bridge. 

Farmers in Chhapswara and Dagara drop them on Buddha Singh Road and from there take them to Kathmandu via Damauli. 

Thapa said, “The lack of a bridge has made transportation expensive.”

There was a plan for constructing a bridge over the Naldi, but the bridge was built in the inundation area of the Lower Seti Hydropower Project of the Tanahun Hydropower Project, so the plan for the bridge has also been suspended. 

Chairman of Devghat Rural Municipality Til Bahadur Thapa said that Devghat Rural Municipality is surrounded by rivers on three sides, and there is a problem crossing them due to the lack of a concrete bridge.

He informed that there was a problem due to the lack of bridges in Naldighat, Ghumaune and Gaighat. 

The rural municipality has allocated a budget to build Orange Road from Naldi to Lungring. 

Although the rural municipality has built the road with its resources, there is a problem in connecting it with the highway due to the lack of a bridge, said Chairman Thapa. 

He said that an orange nursery has been established in Kafaldanda and saplings produced there are distributed to farmers free of cost to encourage farmers in growing oranges.