Jumla, April 16: Apples of the Fuji variety with high density are cultivated over an area of 52 hectares in Jumla. Rambhakta Adhikari, the head of the Agriculture Development Office, said that this variety of apples is grown on 52 hectares in all eight local levels in the district and the production is only on 40 hectares.
According to him, this year apple saplings were planted over an area of 4,497 hectares, out of which apples were produced on 2,165 hectares.
Various varieties of apples such as Red Delicious, Royal Delicious, Golden, Rich Red, Jonathan, and Spur are grown in the district. High-density Gala and Fuji apples are also produced here. Adhikari said that only about 18,245 metric tonnes were produced in the district this year.
Farmers are being attracted to cultivate Fuji apples as they yield good returns. According to the Agricultural Development Office, out of 19,000 households in the district, about 16,000 are engaged in apple cultivation.
Apple bloom adds to beauty in Mustang In Mustang, the apple orchards have turned white as the apple trees inside the orchards have begun to bloom. Mustang is known as the capital of apples. Sher Bahadur Rawat, Technical Assistant at the Agriculture and Livestock Development Office Mustang, said that as the heat increases, the apple trees have started to bloom and turn white.
Apple cultivation has been carried out over a total area of 899.16 hectares in five local levels of the district. According to the data of the Agriculture and Livestock Service Office Mustang, local varieties of apples cover 837.16 hectares, and high-density ‘hybrid’ apples imported from Italy cover 62 hectares. Among these, the productive area for local apple varieties is 572 hectares and for ‘hybrid’ apples is 55 hectares.
