Apple marketing issues in Darchula: there is a harvest, but no markets

In the villages of Patha and Kasauti (Api Himal Rural Municipality-3, Darchula), about 50 families are engaged in traditional and commercial apple growing. Improved cultivars such as Kalmi, Gala, and Italian Fuji produce a good harvest, yet farmers cannot find reliable markets and face transport difficulties.

Kapur Singh Dhami, manager of the Himalayan Agriculture Farm, reported that more than 500 of his trees yielded about 15–20 quintals of apples this year. In total, all families in the village are engaged in apple growing, with 10–12 of them having more than 100 nursery plants each. Producers sell smaller harvest volumes locally or give them to relatives. Dhami noted that he sold one quintal in the village at 100 rupees per kilogram, but transporting the apples to the nearest transport takes a whole day, and a reliable market is absent even after delivery to the road. Similar concern over growing production volumes and remoteness from transport routes was expressed by another farmer from Kasauti village, Janak Singh Karki.

Three years ago, a low-temperature storage facility was established in Patha village by the Cottage and Small Industries Development Office. Currently, it stores about 10 quintals of apples from Dhami's farm and another 15–20 quintals of produce from other farmers. At the same time, farmers are worried due to power supply interruptions and the risk of keeping the harvest in storage for too long.