Jumla fixes price of organic apples

Price of organic apples produced in Jumla has been fixed. Though most of the organic apples produced in the district have already been supplied to the market, the Organic Apple Standardization Main Committee, Jumla has set the price of certified organic grade ´A´ apples at Rs 35 per kg. Similarly, prices of grade ´B´ and grade ´C´ apples have been fixed at Rs 30 per kg and Rs 25 per kg, respectively. Karna Bahadur Kathayat, horticulture development officer at District Agriculture Office, Jumla, said prices of uncertified organic apples have been set at Rs 30 per kg for grade ´A´, Rs 25 per kg for grade ´B´ and Rs 20 per kg for grade ´C´. “Though we had set prices for only grade ´A´ and grade ´B´ apples in the past, we have fixed the price for grade ´C´ apples this year as most of the good apples have already been sent to the market,” said Kathayat. Farmers said they sold apples before they were ripe enough for the market fearing that the apples would rot in the orchard if they do not get transport subsidies from the government. They had started supplying apples to the market from mid-June itself. “Only the farmers close to the power center get subsidy,” Anipal Bohara, a farmer, complained. According to Bohara, most of the farmers even do not know about the subsidies. According to farmers, they supplied apples to different districts, including Kathmandu, at an average price of Rs 25 per kg. “Had we waited for the standard rate, our apples would have decayed in the orchard itself,” a local farmer told Republica. Farmers in the district have so far sold more than 100 tons of apples. According to conservative estimate, apple farming is done in 2,303 hectares in Jumla.