A youth at Belbas in Vyas Municipality-13, Tanahun, has ventured into commercial farming besides his passion for a political career.
The youth, Basant Ale, has started papaya farming in Pokhari Vanjang by renting a plot of land on rent.
He has been the central member of the Nepal Student Union, a student wing of the Nepali Congress party, and its district chairman. He is growing the Taiwan Red Lady 786 variety of papaya.
Ale said that he chose the kind of papaya for farming because it yields a lot of fruits and can be retained even after being ripe for sale for about 15 days.
He said that the local variety of papaya cannot be stored for more than 2 to 3 days and could quickly get rotten if not sold in time.
Ale added that he has a plan to expand his farm if the variety yields fruits as expected and it has the quality as described.
Politician cum farmer Ale said that he has taken 290 ropani of barren land on lease for the papaya orchard. Ale said that 2 thousand seedlings have been planted in the land already and that works were underway to plant five thousand more seedlings.
He shared his optimism that he would start getting income within the next six months because the papayas planted six months ago have already yielded fruits and they are growing.
Kul Prasad Tiwari of Agriculture Knowledge Center, Tanahun, said that 99 per cent of the market at present is covered by the papaya produced in India.
He expected that papaya from Ale’s farm will help reduce imports and commended Ale’s initiative saying it is appreciable that barren land is being used to increase domestic production.
He said papaya farming would be a good option as we have an appropriate climate for this. Tawari informed that technical knowledge has been provided through the field study to Ale’s farm.
He further said that Ale has been showing passion and doing hard work and has set an example that land should not be left barren.
Farmer Ale informed that he pays Rs. 1,000 for a ropani of land per year.
He also said that the land is taken for 10 years and he is also preparing for goat and buffalo farming in the rented land.
He said that a seedling of papaya costs Rs. 28. He has purchased 10 grams of the seeds from Taiwan for nine thousand rupees.
Source : TRN,
