Pax Earth has extended Fruit Garden (FG) project to Poudelthok village from Kot Timal village in Namobuddha Municipality in Kavre. Pax Earth has been implementing the FG project for the underprivileged farmers in Kot Timal village since January 2020. Main objective of the FG project is to contribute to increase the income of the farmers once the trees start to yield fruits in sellable quantity and to promote greenery in these villages. The purpose of extension to Poudelthok village is to experiment the fruit cultivation in this village.
On February 11, 2023, a 7-member Pax Earth team led by president Sujan Koirala along with joint secretary Jamuna Siwakoti Kachyapati, joint treasurer Bhagawati Pandey Thapaliya, members Debraj Ghimire, Devraj Karki and Manisha Chalise, and horticulturist Ramhari Prasad Upadhyay travelled to Poudelthok village and Kot Timal village with 140 fruit saplings (120 kiwi fruits and 20 oranges). The team planted 2 fruit saplings each at Poudelthok and Kot Timal and handed remaining saplings to over 25 underprivileged farmers.
The team first arrived at farmer Chandra Bahadur Tamang’s farmland in Poudelthok where about 20 farmers were gathered. He had already dug 2.5ft x 2.5ft sized two pits and arranged compost manure, ash, mud, and water. Under the guidance and supervision of horticulturist Upadhyay, the farmers planted two orange saplings systematically. They learned to plant making the proper layers of ash, compost manure and mud. They put water on both the orange plants and mulched with the leaves and grasses.
The team distributed 2 fruit saplings each to 16 farmers – 2 saplings each of orange to farmers Bishnu Bahadur Tamang, Kanchhi Maya Tamang, Maya Tamang, Urmila Poudel, Amrita Poudel, Bandana Mainali, Sameer Lama, Soma Rani Tamang, Pratap Singh Tamang and 2 saplings each of kiwi fruits to farmers Dipendra Prasad Poudyal, Subba Singh Tamang, Rajeshwori Bam, Ramkala Poudel, Indira Koirala, Ram Sharan Poudyal, and Swostika Poudyal. Including two saplings planted at Tamang’s farmland, total 34 saplings – 20 of oranges and 14 of kiwi fruits were handed to the beneficiary farmers. The beneficiary farmers had attended the fruit plants management training at Seti Devi Primary School on January 28, 2023.
After successfully holding the program at Seti Devi Primary School, the team arrived at the farmland of farmer Ram Koirala at Kot Timal village where about 15 farmers were gathered. He had already dug 2.5ft x 2.5ft sized one pit and arranged the compost manure, ash, mud, and water for planting. In the meantime, the farmers dug another same sized pit. The farmers planted 2 kiwi fruit saplings in these two pits making the proper layer of compost manure, ash, and mud. They put water on both the kiwi plants and mulched with the leaves and grasses.
The team distributed over 100 saplings of kiwi fruits to 9 farmers – 20 saplings each to farmers Narayan Pandey, Uttam Bahadur Badal, and Hari Sharan Koirala, 15 saplings to Bishnu Raj Bhandari, and 10 saplings to Indra Raj Bhandari. Similarly, the team handed 6, 5, 5, and 1 saplings of kiwi to Uddhav Koirala, Ramhari Khakurel, Surendra Koirala and Ram Koirala respectively. These beneficiary farmers had attended the fruit plants management training at Kot Timal village on January 27 and 28, 2023. They have contributed half of the cost of the kiwi fruits.
These fruit saplings are grafted fruit saplings. The kiwi fruits saplings will start to yield fruits in 3 to 4 years and the orange saplings will start to yield in 2 to 3 years. Horticulturist Upadhyay gave some useful advice to the farmers at both the villages to care and grow these fruit saplings properly. The beneficiary farmers in both the villages expressed their gratitude to Pax Earth for teaching how to plant and cultivate the fruit plants properly and for providing the fruit plants saplings. The program was coordinated by member Debraj Ghimire and supported by the entire team members.
The results of the experiment of fruit cultivation in Kot Timal for the last 3 years has shown that the kiwi fruit is commercially viable fruits for farming followed by lemon, apple, and orange. The FG project has played an important role in attracting more and more farmers towards fruit farming gradually over the years. We expect the farmers in Poudelthok will create sustainable fruit gardens too. We will support the farmers of both Kot Timal and Poudelthok to improve their earnings by involving them in creating sustainable fruit gardens although it will take some years for trees to mature and yield fruits.
Pax Earth believes that the trees help to absorb carbon and reduce global warming. The FG project is a small contribution towards this goal. Nevertheless, we are happy to contribute to earth and environment by planting more trees year on year.
Reported by PEN Secretariat!
Thanksgiving!
Pax Earth is grateful to horticulturist Ramhari Prasad Upadhyay for guiding the farmers to adopt systematic way of fruit cultivation. We are thankful to program coordinator Debraj Ghimire and the entire team of the day (president Sujan Koirala, joint secretary Jamuna Siwakoti Kachyapati, joint treasurer Bhagawati Pandey Thapaliya, members Devraj Karki and Manisha Chalise) for holding the program successfully. We would like to thank Subba Singh Tamang, the principal of Seti Devi Primary School and Devraj Khakurel, our local contact person in Kot Timal, for coordinating with the local farmers and setting up the venue for the program at Poudelthok and Kot Timal respectively.
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