Padam Mahat, 71, has been farming the slopes of Jumla for the last 29 years after quitting a lucrative job as a government officer. His 110-ropani orchard, at an altitude of 3,000 meter, in Mahatgaun now stands like an oasis in the midst of barren hills. [break]
Mahat is the first person to pass the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) from Karnali zone and had even cleared tests for a pilot course after completing Intermediate of Science from the Amrit Science College.
But the only son of his parents couldn´t become a pilot owing to his parent´s fears. He then completed Bachelor of Science (B Sc) from Tri-Chandra College and joined civil service.
But he quit government service after working 15 years in Land Reforms Office. “I have always nursed an ego about doing something at my place having ridiculed by friends during college days for belonging to Jumla,” Mahat says.
“During a visit to Himachal Pradesh of India, I learnt that the state owed its development to fruits and medicinal herbs. I saw that possibility in Karnali and quit my job to pursue the dream,” he adds.
Three decades on, he has no regrets. “I might not have owned a car and a house in Kathmandu had I not quit the job. But most imortantly I have been able to show Karnali´s potential,” says the indefatigable man who started his farming with just five apple trees.
He now has over 5,000 trees with 23 varieties of apple, seven kinds of pear, 11 types of walnut, three varieties each of peach, chilli and cumin seeds and his orchard now provides job to 20 persons. “You don´t have to go abroad for employment if you work here with dedication,” he states.
Dila Ram Bhandari of the agriculture ministry, who has worked as a senior agriculture development officer in Jumla, claims Mahat´s orchard has conserved apple in Jumla.
Mahat had been decorated by the then King Birendra in late eighties, and has been asked to join politics by his good friend the Nepali Congress leader Sher Bahadur Deuba, but he wants to continue farming. His orchard produces 100 tons of apple every year while "Mahat Potato" developed by him is famous across the country.
Many non-governmental organizations take farmers to the orchard for field visits and even agricultural technicians come to him to learn about apple farming. The apples from his orchard do not go waste by rotting, a sorry predicament faced by other growers, as he makes juice, brandy, jam, cider and pickles inside his orchard and sells the products in the local market.
He urges the government to help local farmers in making such alternate products. The government has been providing grant of Rs 2.2 million for the transportation of 100 tons of apples produced in the district. But Mahat claims the amount is not enough for the district that produced 3,200 ton this year.
“The apples grown in Jumla are the only organic apples in the country and the government should do more to promote apple farming in the district,” he asserts.
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