Devghat Rural Municipality-3 in Tanahun has earned Rs. 30 million from orange sales this year. Farmers who cultivate orange commercially have generated income through both contracts and direct sales.

According to the Agriculture Knowledge Centre, Tanahun, residents of Batak, Lungring, Chipchipe, Chhapaswara and Dagara have earned over Rs. 30 million from orange sales. Despite increased orange production this year compared to last year, farmers said that their income has not risen because the market price has remained unchanged.

Lead orange farmer and Chairman of the Devghat Area Development Committee, Bhim Bahadur Rana, informed that despite the rise in expenses, oranges were sold at last year’s price. He said that he alone had sold oranges worth Rs. 3 million this year.

Chairman Rana stated that farmers only from Ward No. 3 earned more than Rs. 30 million. In Lungring, a single household sold over Rs. 2 million worth of oranges.

Farmer Prem Thapa said that orange producers face significant challenges transporting their produce to the market. He said that the lack of bridges over the Trishuli and Seti rivers, which would connect Lungring, Bhatik, Chipchipe, Chhapaswara and Dagara villages to the highway, has made transportation difficult.

According to Thapa, farmers from Lungring and Chipchipe transport oranges by jeep to Naldighat on the Buddha Singh Road and Gaighat on the Mugling-Narayangadh highway, then carry them across a suspension bridge to the highway. Similarly, farmers from Chhapaswara and Dagara transport their produce by road to Damauli and then to Kathmandu.

He said, “The lack of bridges has made transportation costs expensive.” Although there was a plan for a bridge at Naldighat, it was delayed due to the inundation zone of the Lower Seti Hydroelectric Project in Tanahun.

Devghat Rural Municipality Chairman Til Bahadur Thapa said that after farmers started earning good income from oranges, they have been planting new trees. To encourage farmers, the municipality provides free saplings and Chairman Thapa believes that in the coming years, both production and income will continue to grow.

He also said that Devghat is surrounded by rivers on three sides, but the lack of proper bridges has created ongoing transportation issues. The absence of bridges at Naldighat, Ghumaune, and Gaighat has exacerbated these difficulties.

The municipality has named the rural road from Naldighat to Lungring as ‘Orange Route’ and has allocated budget for it. However, despite the road being constructed with the municipality’s resources, the lack of bridges has made it difficult to bring produce to the highway. To encourage farmers, an orange nursery has been established in Kafuldanda and the saplings produced there are distributed to farmers free of charge.

Chairman Thapa said that oranges are produced in various parts of Ward Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4. In the past, farmers had to carry their produce to Narayangadh in Chitwan in baskets but now the municipality has extended the road to the village.

However, without bridges over the rivers, there is still no direct access to the highway.

In the last fiscal year 2023/24, farmers in Tanahun earned Rs. 40 million, with a total of 11,518 metric tonnes of oranges produced, informed Gopal Sharma Lamichhane, head of the Agriculture Knowledge Centre. He said that the exact income for this year is still pending.