Tanahun farmers earning millions from orange farms

Amar Raj Naharki / Tanahun, Dec. 22: Many farmers in Tanahun have achieved significant financial success through commercial orange cultivation, with some becoming millionaires.

Shuk Narayan Shrestha, an orange farmer from Umachowk in Myagde Rural Municipality-2, earned Rs. 7 million from selling oranges this year. He has become a model orange farmer in Tanahun, known for selling the highest quantity of oranges. What was once a hobby, planting orange trees for personal consumption and gifting to relatives and friends, has now turned into money-making business.

Similarly, Bishwo Bahadur Adhikari, who previously served as the chairman of the former District Development Committee twice, has transitioned from politics to commercial orange farming with his brother Nirmal Adhikari. Together, they earn an annual income of approximately Rs. 6.5 million from their orange farming. After gradually becoming inactive in politics, Bishwa now finds satisfaction in orange farming, which brings him both fame and fortune.

Bhim Bahadur Rana, chairman of the Devghat Area Development Committee and an orange farmer, earned Rs. 3 million this year from selling oranges. He said, “For me, orange and gold are the same. It feels as though gold grows on these trees.”

Farmers like Rana, who once grew oranges for personal consumption and as gifts, now focus entirely on commercial cultivation. Contractor buyers now visit their orchards to pick fully ripe oranges directly from the trees. Nirmal Bahadur Adhikari, a farmer from Myagde, Jamune, said that while oranges were available for purchase in markets, the orchards were almost empty as all the fruits have been harvested and sold.

Nirmal Adhikari, chairman of the Umachowk Orange Block Area, said that in Umachowk alone, oranges worth around Rs. 25 million have been sold this year. According to him, the focus is entirely on selling the oranges to generate income, with no stock kept for sampling. His family alone has cultivated oranges across 85 ropanis of land, earning Rs. 6.5 million this year, an increase from Rs. 6 million last year.

Farmers in the district collectively earn Rs. 400 to 500 million annually from orange farming. According to the Agriculture Knowledge Centre in Tanahun, farmers earned Rs. 400 million in the fiscal year 2023/24 by producing 11,518 metric tonnes of oranges. With an increase in cultivated land and rising prices, this year’s income is expected to reach Rs. 500 million, said Information Officer Kiran Pariyar.

The centre has been supporting orange farmers by helping to manage their orchards and providing on-site consultations. Chief Gopal Sharma Lamichhane said that subsidies under the area expansion programme had led to an increase in orange farming across the district every year. There are currently eight designated orange farming blocks in the district, each requiring a minimum area of 70 hectares. Farmers interested in farming within these blocks must form clusters through individuals, groups or cooperatives.