In a first, Malda farmer grows over a quintal oranges

Malda: The Malda district famous for its mangoes can also produce oranges in abundance from now.

Paving the way for this, a farmer, Deepak Rajbanshi, of Goalpara Village in Old Malda Block has set a precedent by cultivating oranges for the first time in the district with his own initiative. On a research basis, about one-and-a-half quintals of oranges have already been grown by the farmer in his own garden from 9 trees. These oranges grown by Rajbanshi are sweeter than Kanpur oranges and are tastier to consume.

Before this, many people in Malda have grown oranges in earthen tubs in rooftop gardens but until now there was no precedent for getting sweet oranges from Malda land. Slightly smaller than Darjeeling oranges in size, Rajbanshi is now conducting research on enhancing the fruit size. Rajbanshi said: “I am not satisfied with the size so I have not yet started selling them commercially. It can only be done after increasing the size. I am working on it and expect a larger size of fruits when these organically cultivated trees will be fully mature.”

Samata Layek, deputy director of district Horticulture department, said: “Oranges can be grown in Malda soil and there is every possibility of this fruit to be produced on a commercial basis. Proper management of fertiliser and fruit thinning can bring the desired size of the oranges. We’ll visit him very shortly to guide him and assess the possibilities.”

Rajbanshi has sold oranges at the rate of Rs 30 to 35 per kilo to some fruit traders in the district. He planted 10 orange seedlings four years back in his orchard near his house. He bought seedlings of Bhutani species from a nursery in Ranaghat, Nadia. Although later a seedling died, the rest of the orange trees have grown up to about 7-feet-tall.

These trees started bearing fruits from 2022. The flowers start to appear in early April and the fruit begins ripening from the second week of November. About 20 to 25 kg of oranges are available in each tree. A mixture of dung manure, vermicompost, neem khail are used as fertilisers. Rajbanshi used homemade herbal pesticides and no chemical pesticides or fertilisers have been used yet.

Ujjwal Saha, president of Malda Mango Merchants Association, said: ‘’It’s really nice to see some new fruit growing in the district. Dragon fruits are also being produced in Malda. If oranges can be produced commercially, it’ll be a new vista for traders and farmers.”