TANAHUN: Transporting their produce to market has become a persistent challenge for orange growers in Devghat Rural Municipality–3, despite the area producing oranges worth crores of rupees each year.
Farmers say the lack of bridges and proper road networks has made moving their harvest extremely difficult, even though their oranges are supplied to major markets including Tanahun, Pokhara, Chitwan, and Kathmandu.
Large quantities of oranges are produced in Chhipiphe, Batak, Chapswanra, Dagara, and Lungring in the district, according to farmer Rana Bahadur Magar, who said the problem has remained unchanged for years.
Magar said farmers rely heavily on orange farming for their income, but reaching the market is a struggle because the ward is encircled by the Kaligandaki, Setimadi, and Trishuli rivers without a single concrete bridge.
Although production dipped this year due to disease in orange trees, farmers saw their earnings rise by around 30 percent. Prem Bahadur Magar noted that oranges were dispatched to the market earlier than usual this year, fetching around Rs 1,400 per crate.
However, the high cost of porter-based transport and the absence of bridges at Naldi and Gaighat force farmers to take longer detours via Kota, Baidi, and Sarangghat before routing their produce to Kathmandu through Damauli.
Farmer Bhim Bahadur Rana added that due to the lack of direct routes, farmers often pay nearly double in transportation costs. Some transport oranges by jeep to Gaighat on the Muglin–Narayangadh road and then carry them across a suspension bridge to reach the highway. With no road access, farmers are dependent on middlemen to reach markets in Damauli, Muglin, Narayangadh, and Kathmandu. In Lungring alone, a single household is said to sell oranges worth up to Rs 2 million.
Besides oranges, ginger, bananas, and other fruits are transported via gravity ropeway, and feed for livestock is also brought in the same way.
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