CHITWAN, Dec 24: Farmers in Ichchhakamana Rural Municipality are poised to make bountiful earnings from orange farming alone. More than 450 farmers in the rural municipality are set to earn Rs 100 million this year alone from the sale of oranges, according to the Agriculture Development Section of the rural municipality. The oranges produced by farmers have fetched a good price this year, thus resulting in a huge income.

Section Chief Ashish Tripathi said a kilo of orange fetches Rs 75 to Rs 90 at the farmer's orchard at present.

Oranges are grown on 80 hectares of land in Ichchhakamana Rural Municipality this year and of this area, oranges have been produced in 60 hectares area. Tripathi said 15,000 out of the 20,000 orange trees grown in the rural municipality produced fruits. "The production is less this year compared to the previous year. Although the production is small, the farmers got a good price this year.

Last year, 5,100 orange trees were planted under the Orange Growing Area Expansion Program launched by the Agriculture Knowledge Centre (AKC). So, the orange plantation area expanded this year as compared to last year, but the area with higher production did not expand.

According to him, orange production this year has declined by 12 percent compared to the production last year. The production last year was 1,650 metric tonnes and the production this year is 1, 500 metric tonnes.

Orange farming is done in Ichchhakamana Rural Municipality and in Bharatpur Metropolitan City-29, the two hilly areas of Chitwan district. 

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