Committee for well-being of writers formed

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Dec 17: With an objective of boosting unity and cooperation among the literary writers of Nepal Bhasha, a litterateurs' association Nepal Bhasha Chomi Guthi was formed under the chairmanship of Pushpa Ratna Tuladhar recently.

The newly constituted committee has Bhuvaneshwor Joshi, Ameer Ratna Tamrakar, and H. K. Kapali as vice-chairman, secretary, and treasurer respectively.

Madhav Mool, Bhagat Dass Shrestha, Ram Bhakta Kayastha, Hriday Prasad Mishra Kesh Ratna Shakya, Mochhya Bahadur Amatya, Sugat Ratna Sindurakar, Timila Ranjit, Basanta Maharjan, Purnima Dangol, and Uden Nhoo-Sayami are the members of the committee.

The association, according to the Guthi's members, will focus its operations on the wellbeing and development of Nepal Bhasha writers.

Orange export-potential hit by flies in Dhankuta

BY BISHNU GAUTAM

Dhankuta, Dec. 17: Local agriculture officials have estimated that the fruit fly causes a loss of over Rs. 7.8 million rupees a year in Dhankuta district alone. As per the same estimation, the fruit fly damages 1,556 metric tons of oranges out of total production of 5,420 metric tons in Dhankuta every year.

The Fruit Fly has been a great scare for the local orange farmers in Dhankuta, a place famed for producing both sweet and sour oranges in the country. In recent years the damage inflicted by fruit flies on oranges has been enormous. It started in years following the export of oranges to Bangladesh thus hitting hard on the local orange farmers.

According to District Agriculture Development Office (DADO), Dhankuta, the local farmers exported eight tons of oranges to Bangladesh last year.

In the past, marketing oranges was a big problem for the local farmers. Now when there is a market the fruit flies are creating a havoc.

This year the Dhankuta farmers may not be able to export even four tons of oranges, an official at the DADO explains.

"I could produce more than 15,000 oranges last year, but this time there are not even 2,000 of them on the tree due to the fruit fly menace," says Bhawani Pokharel, a small farmer of Dhankuta Municipality Ward No. 7.

According to the farmers, when the larva of the fruit flies start growing inside an orange, especially in the thin-skinned ones, the fruit first becomes black and falls down before it ripens.

"First the fruit becomes black and then drops," said Pokharel pointing at the heaps of the spoiled oranges in his garden and his dying orange trees.

"Keshab Pahadi used to earn Rs. 60,000 every year from oranges but this year he would not be able to get even Rs. 10,000 from his oranges," says Bhawani Pokharel, Pahadi’s elder brother.

Not only Bhawani Pokhrel but several other farmers also have the same story to tell about the decreasing production of oranges in the district.

Upendra Pokharel, one of the local orange farmers who is also the chief of the local Dhankuta Multiple Campus told that the local farmers would one day start felling their orange trees if the scourge of fruit flies is not checked urgently.

Upendra Pokhrel took this reporter to his orange garden near his residence in Ward No. 3 of Dhankuta Municipality to show how oranges had dropped from the trees.

Though Pokharel had not plucked any oranges, dozens of his orange trees are almost fruitless.

"I could not protect oranges from the fruit fly," Pokharel said adding that the local agriculture research centres and DADO have failed to check the harmful insects.

Pakhribas and Patle Agriculture farms, the two noted agriculture research centres of the country operated with foreign assistance are located in Dhankuta.

And the Patle Farm, according to the local farmers, is trying to control the insects by providing the farmers with necessary insecticides.

"But this time it did not assist us in time, as a result we have suffered a huge loss," says Bhawani Pokhrel.

If the farmers do not spread pesticides on their orange trees in early Shrawan (July), the attack of the insect increases, he added.

Seen in 1982 for the first time in neighbouring district of Bhojpur, fruit fly has now become a major problem for the orange farmers in Dhankuta, Bhojpur, Sankhuwasabha and Terhathum districts in eastern Nepal, says Gajendra Sen Niroula, an agriculture specialist.

According to Niroula, the attack of the insect is increasing every year and the amount of loss is also rising.

Fruit fly is an insect with a full life cycle of about forty-five days and mature fruit flies lay eggs inside the fruit by piercing the fruit with the help of their ovipositor. As the larva starts growing inside the fruit, it eats the centre of the fruit thereby making the fruit turn black and fall.

But the officials at the local agriculture-related offices are hopeful that they would be able to control the fruit fly.

"Though fruit fly is a very sensitive insect, it can be controlled if the farmers and the agriculture specialists work together. For this we have initiated Participatory Fruit Fly Control Project in the district," says Niroula.

Sharing experiences of business stressed

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Dec. 17: President of Bhaktapur Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) Krishna Prasad Tamrakar said that the sharing of experiences among the different organisations could be useful in devising future plans and programmes to give a boost to the industrial and commerce sectors, according to a press release issued today by BCCI.

Tamrakar was expressing the views while welcoming the visiting familiarisation teams from Sankhuwasabha Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) and Bhojpur Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BHCCI)

Informing the visiting team members about the activities of his association, Tamrakar said that many training programmes, among others, have been conducted during the last eight years. He also stressed the need to make joint efforts to make the cultural and industrial city, Bhaktapur, known to other parts of the country.

Commending the role of BCCI in lifting the face of Bhaktapur, President of Sankhuwasabha Chamber of Commerce and Industry Shyam Sundar Udas said that his association is ready to follow suit.

President of Bhojpur Chamber of Commerce and Industry Tej Moktan said BCCI has been making efforts to create a market for herbal and other products of Bhojpur.

The study teams consisted of 19 businessmen and industrialists from Sankhuwasabha and Bhojpur.

‘Coordination body must to solve revenue problems’

Biratnagar, Dec. 17 (RSS): President of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Pradip Kumar Shrestha says the mode of co-operation of the industrial and business communities to His Majesty’s Government may change if the latter fails to implement the suggestions submitted by the former.

Briefing the press on the outcome of the FNCCI’s first meeting held here Friday, president Shrestha noted that the constitution by the government of the Revenue Consultative Committee should have been followed by the formation of a co-ordination committee for the local level problem resolution, but such a step was not forthcoming as yet.

The foreign investors and exporters were still in a crisis of confidence and the existing industries were also on a downward trend, he added.

In reply to a query, he said the country suffered a trade deficit to the tune to Rs. 56 billion this fiscal year and there was an influx of 300,000 labourers into the market.

FNCCI vice chairman Rabi Bhakta Shrestha described national consensus as "essential" to resolve national crisis and suggested that support of all parties should be sought in freeing the national from political tug-of-war and lead it on the path of economic prosperity.