Slump in production of Lum oranges

MANGAN, 11 Dec: Lum oranges, famed for being the sweetest grown in the State, have seen almost a 70% fall in production this year. The Lum Orange is usually a large sized fruit and is also exported outside the state.
“Usually, I produce around 30,000 fruits in a year, but this year my harvest will not go above five to six thousand,” said Karzang Lepcha, one of the farmers from this village. He further informed that, hailstorms, which usually hampers production, have not occurred this year so it is not clear why the production has gone down so drastically this year.
Similarly, Chugay Lepcha one of the farmers informed that his annual harvest normally gives around forty thousand but this year he is expecting to get only 8 to 10 thousand. The villagers here are not sure of the reason behind this sudden fall in production.
Meanwhile, the KVK has provided a tank for the farmers to store their ‘drop fruits’ which are recommended for disposal after the application of prescribed medicines.
Ward panchayat of the area, Tshering Gyatso Lepcha, while speaking to NOW! informed that the KVK has provided such tanks to each household. The villagers have now even grown suspicious of the medicine, with some convinced that this was leading to the fall in production.
“We are not technical experts to comment on the actual cause of the fall in production but we have been told by KVK officials and experts that the actual cause is insects”, said Mr Lepcha.