MYAGDI: Farmers of Dosalle in Annapurna Rural Municipality–7, Myagdi, have started harvesting and sending oranges to the market after mid-January to secure better prices, as orchards in many other parts of the country have already run empty.
Compared to previous years, Dosalle farmers are receiving significantly higher prices this season. Earlier, oranges sold for around Rs 1,700 per crate (20 kg) during Mangsir and Poush. This year, the price has risen to Rs 2,500 per crate, according to local farmer Bikash Shrestha.
“We collectively fixed the price to avoid selling oranges at cheap rates,” Shrestha said, adding that traders are willing to pay up to Rs 3,200 per crate as oranges from other regions have already finished.
Dosalle village, home to 42 households, earned around Rs 16 million from orange farming last year. Although the fruit size is smaller this season, higher prices and production from newly planted trees are expected to keep total output at a level similar to last year, said Prem Paija, chairperson of the Dosalle Commercial Orange Farmers’ Group.
Traders from Pokhara and Kathmandu are purchasing oranges directly from orchards, leading to an increase in harvesting activities. All households in Dosalle are now engaged in orange farming. The village has also seen a halt in outmigration, with families who had earlier moved to Beni, Pokhara and other cities returning to cultivate previously barren land.
“Earlier, even sustaining a basic livelihood in the village was difficult, as there were no reliable income sources,” Paija said. “Orange farming has changed the living standards of local residents.”
According to Paija, there are around 10,000 orange trees in Dosalle. The villagers began commercial orange farming after conducting soil tests with experts from Pokhara in 2011 and have expanded cultivation every year since then.
Farmlands that once grew rice, maize, millet and soybean are now covered with orange orchards. With new trees starting to bear fruit, locals estimate that annual income from oranges could exceed Rs 30 million in the coming years.
Local farmer Maya Devi Garbuja said that improved earnings from oranges have encouraged farmers to abandon traditional crops and further expand orange cultivation in the village.
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