MYAGDI: Farmers in Gharap, Annapurna Rural Municipality-4 of Myagdi district, are boosting their income by producing juice from unsold small oranges.
Prem Tilija and Maina Tilija, a local couple, have earned Rs 200,000 this season by selling fresh orange juice to tourists traveling along the Mustang-Myagdi route of the Annapurna Cycle Trail.
“After traders bought the large oranges from our garden, we kept the small oranges on the trees,” Maina explained. “Up to 50 tourists come here daily to enjoy the juice.”
During the off-season, orange juice is sold for Rs 250 for a small glass and Rs 350 for a large glass.
Maina shared that she picks around 100 oranges from their garden, as well as gathering additional fruit from a neighbor’s garden. She then peels and extracts the juice using special equipment. “The equipment separates the seeds from the juice,” she said.
Janardan Dev Pant, a tourist from Kathmandu, stopped in Gharap to enjoy the fresh, delicious juice made from off-season oranges while trekking through the grasslands of Mustang on his way to the hot springs of Myagdi.
Prem explained that before they started juicing, the small-seeded oranges were often left unsold. Now, by turning these unused oranges into juice, they are generating extra income. He noted that even when oranges are scarce in other areas, the small varieties remain available in their gardens until Chaitra.
Farmers in Gharap, who harvest large-seeded oranges in Magh, keep the small ones until Chaitra for juicing. However, they noted the need for a humid storage house for the oranges, proper equipment for processing and juicing, and skill-based training to improve production. There are 20 families in Gharap, most of whom are orange farmers.
Prem, 49, and his wife Maina, who returned from two years of employment in Malaysia, also run a restaurant and hotel in their home. Prem shared that the hotel, which caters to tourists traveling to and from the Annapurna Base Camp, Mustang, and Narchyang, can accommodate up to 30 people daily.
The New Kaligandaki Restaurant and Lodge, operated by the Tilija couple, offers a peaceful and secluded environment, along with local dishes such as chicken, duck, pork, greens, orange juice, and millet porridge. Prem also mentioned that two employees work at the hotel.
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