Baglung, Feb 3: The farmers in Sigana village in Baglung Municipality–8 have made a decent income from orange production and the production is also on the rise year on year. Ananta Khadka, an orange farmer, sold oranges worth Rs 500,000 to traders last year but his income this year increased to Rs 750,000.
Khadka and other farmers sold their production directly to the traders in lump sum from their gardens. The local people shared that the village received nearly Rs 40 million from orange sales this year, while such amount was Rs 35 million last year.
More than 100 farmers in Sigana village have earned from Rs 100,000 to Rs 700,000 from the same of orange and there are many other families making income from orange farming. The Ganesh Agricultural Cooperative in the village has maintained the record of the orange production and sales.
The farmers shared that the oranges from there are sold to the cities including Pokhara, Kathmandu, Chitwan and others. The villagers there had switched to commercial farming of oranges nearly three decades ago and have rapidly expanded the orange cultivation area.
Leading farmer Shiva Kumar Khadka in Sigana shared that the cooperative has been constructed to expand the areas for orange farming and the farmers are provided with the orange saplings at a subsidized rate.
This year, the production of oranges has increased due to favorable weather coupled with the absence of diseases, Chairman of Ganesh Agricultural Cooperative Ram Bahadur Khadka stated.
