Farmers in Arghakhanchi have produced oranges worth Rs130 million this year.

The fruit is cultivated on 704 hectares of land in the district, which saw production of 5,380 tonnes this year, according to District Agriculture Development Office (DADO).

Yog Prasad Kharel, DADO’s senior officer, said a growing number of farmers are getting attracted towards orange cultivation, especially due to technical knowledge and subsidy on saplings along with other incentives the office has been providing to the farmers.

He said the farmers were hit this year as supply to markets outside the district was

affected due to acute fuel

shortages as a result of Indian trade embargo. Previously, 60 percent of the produce would go to markets outside district, but this year, the farmers could send only 40 percent, he said.

The farmers, however, said they faced losses this year due to poor harvest as a result of hailstorm and diseases. “My earnings dropped to Rs200,000 from last year’s Rs300,000,” said Tulasa Poudel, a farmer from Simle.

Simle is one of the pocket

areas for orange production

in the district. Besides, the

fruit is also cultivated in

Patauti, Khidim, Arghatosh, Bhagawati Mareng, Hansapur, Dhikura and Khachikot. Sandhikharka, Butwal, Palpa, Pokhara, Kapilvastu and the Kathmandu Valley are the main markets for the fruit.

Farmers, who had previously been engaged in food grain production, have planted 900 orange trees on 25 ropanies of land in Simle alone. The farmers also plant vegetables and cash crops like ginger and turmeric under the orange trees.

With orange farming bringing change to the people’s life in the district, the number of people going for foreign employment

has decreased.

“Earlier, most of the people from the district went to India for employment,” said Rewati Poudel, a local. “But now their number has decreased as a farmer here earns Rs400,000 annually on an average from orange production.”