Apples produced in several local levels in the north-eastern region of Bajura district, which are meant to be transported to markets across the country, remain stored in farms. The reason? The Martadi-Kolti road remains blocked. Dhan Bahadur Rawal, an apple farmer of Swamikartik Rural Municipality-1, said a lot of apples have ripened in his field, but that the closure of Martadi-Kolti road has meant that there is a problem taking them to the city for sale. “Every year at this time, when apples start ripening in our village, roads get blocked,” he complained. Apples in the Himali, Swamikartik, and Jagganath Rural Municipalities, as well as Budhinanda Municipality
The Agriculture Knowledge Centre (AKC) of Bajura district conducted a detailed study on the district’s geography and its feasibility in apple farming some years ago.
According to the apple farmers of Bhudhinanda Municipality, the difficulty to carry apples to the market was created after the road section at Martadi-Kolti which got damaged in the rainy season was not yet repaired and made operational.
