BAJURA, SEPTEMBER 11

Despite a bountiful apple harvest in Bajura this year, farmers in the region find themselves in a predicament as they struggle to secure buyers for their produce. The lack of access to the market has has left the farmers with no choice but to repurpose their harvest as livestock feed.

Apple orchards across Bajura are laden with fruit, and every branch sways under the weight of ripe apples, creating a picturesque scene. However, due to the lack of buyers, these apples are now being used to feed livestock.

Budhinanda Municipality in Bajura, particularly Pandusen Village, boasts an extensive apple orchard. Over 150 households have apple orchards in the village, with some households owning around 50 to 60 trees at the least. Pur Bahadur Rawat, the owner of the largest apple orchard in Pandusen, has approximately 3,000 apple trees in his orchard. Travelers passing through the roads in Pandusen are often seen carrying apples freshly plucked from the trees.

Jukot in Swamikartik Rural Municipality is another significant apple production area in Bajura, famous for its high-quality apples. Apple trees in Jukot are also laden with apples.In Jukot, more than 70 farmers are engaged in apple farming, and most households have at least 200 apple trees in their orchard. However, due to the lack of a local market, the farmers there too face a similar fate.

Lekali area of Jagannath Municipality is another area where apple farming is prevalent; however, they too are forced to feed their apples to livestock, according to the local municipality chairman, Kali Bahadur Shahi.

Pur Bahadur Rawat, who has over 3,000 apple trees laden with apples waiting for the market, is worried that they will not be sold and will go to waste on the trees. Despite having a variety of high-quality apple types such as Golden, Royal, Golden Delicious, Gala, and Fuji, he is finding it challenging to sell his produce.

'I am selling apples for around Rs 50 per kg in the orchard. If I could transport my apples to nearby markets like Martadi and Kolti, they would be sold at around Rs 150 per kg,' Rawat lamented. 'However, the roads to Martadi and Kolti have been blocked for a long time due to landslides in multiple locations, making it difficult to transport apples there.' Transporting them to the Terai or Kathmandu is beyond our capacity, he said, while adding that there has been demand from a prospective star hotel in Kathmandu; however, logistics and transportation challenges have made it nearly impossible to fulfill such distant orders.

According to the Agriculture Knowledge Center in Bajura, apple cultivation covers more than 350 hectares in the district, with an estimated annual production of 700 metric tons of apples.