Farmers Complain About Wrong Fruit on Subsidized Saplings

Kathmandu. After farmers in Siddhalek Rural Municipality of Dhading complained that the grafted saplings of 'Sun Kagati' (a type of lemon) they received as subsidy from the municipality bore a different fruit, questions have been raised about the quality of fruit farming in Nepal.

This is not the first time such an incident has occurred in Nepal. Bhupendra Nemwang of Phalgunanda Rural Municipality in Panchthar started lemon cultivation on 9 ropanis of land four years ago. He invested about 5 lakh rupees in the barren land to cultivate improved varieties of Sun Kagati. After four years of continuous hard work, the saplings bore fruit, but it was wild lime (Bimiro) instead of lemon.