On January 10 and 11, 2021, Pax Earth organised fruit plants management training for the underprivileged farmers in Namobuddha municipality, ward no. 5, Kot Timal village, Kavre, Nepal under the fruit garden (FG) project. Pax Earth has aimed to create one fruit garden at each interested farmer’s homestead garden in Kot Timal and has been planting and distributing fruit saplings to these farmers since March 2018.

On January 10, Pax Earth organised theoretical and interaction session in Kot Timal. The session was led by horticulture specialist Ramhari Prasad Upadhyay. He shared about various aspects of fruit plants management including climatic zones (tropical, sub-tropical and temperate), soil condition, appropriate type of fruit saplings, layout of the plantation area, size of the pit, proper way of plantation, fertilisation, training, pruning, irrigation, management of diseases and insects, time and way of picking fruits, tools used in fruit plants and trees management, and cleaning of plantation area. He also discussed about plant propagation and its methods. Before involving in fruit farming, the farmers should understand climatic zones and soil condition to select appropriate fruits for plantation, availability of fertilisers and access to irrigation facility, have knowledge on training, pruning, and management of diseases and insects among others.

The goal of training fruit tree is to direct its growth. It is important for a healthy and strong tree. It helps trees to produce early. Pruning is a practice of removing certain portions of a tree or shrub such as branches, buds or roots that are damaged, dead, and dying due to pests, disease and lack of sunlight or trimming for developing healthy plant and aesthetic purposes. It helps to treat disease, remove hazardous branches, encourage new growth, and facilitate quality fruit production. Management of diseases and insects are important for sustainable growth of the fruit trees and cultivation of fruits.

Upadhyay shared some information on nursery development. The farmers interested on nursery development should have knowledge and skills on plant propagation. Plant propagation is the process of producing a new plant from an existing one. There are two types of propagation: sexual and asexual. Sexual propagation is the reproduction of plants by seeds. The genetic material of two parents is combined by pollination and fertilization to create offspring that are different from each parent.

Asexual propagation, also referred to as vegetative propagation, involves taking vegetative parts of a plant (stems, roots, and/or leaves) and utilising them to regenerate into a new plant or, in some cases, several plants. With few exceptions, the resulting plant is genetically identical to the parent plant. The most common asexual propagation methods include cutting, layering, grafting, and budding. Cutting is a process of cutting a small shoot or branch of a plant and placed in water, soil or planting medium to root and form a new plant. In layering, first the roots are formed on a stem of a mother plant and only after that the stem is cut off and is planted as a new plant. Grafting is a horticultural technique used to join parts from two or more plants so that they appear to grow as a single plant. A grafted plant inserts a piece of one plant (scion or bud) to the roots and the bottom portion of another plant (rootstock). Budding is a process in which a new organism develops from an outgrowth or bud due to repeated cell division at one specific site. When the bud fully matures, it detaches from parent body and becomes independent.

On January 11, Pax Earth conducted practical session on-the-field. The field was set at the fruit gardens of Dev Bahadur Sorali Magar (at Kalimati), Dev Raj Khakurel (at Kot Timal) and Mandhwoj Tamang (at Tallo Gaon) respectively. In each place, specialist Upadhyay demonstrated how to prune and train a fruit plant using proper tools and equipment. He pruned and trained few kiwi plants at Magar’s garden in Kalimati, a kiwi, a pear, and an apple trees at Khakurel’s garden in Kot Timal, and a lemon and a pear trees at Tamang’s garden in Tallo Gaon. He also showed how to apply fertilisers on the base of these fruit plants and trees properly. The farmers followed him in pruning, training, and fertilising fruit plants and trees.

Besides, he demonstrated asexual propagation techniques including layering, grafting, cutting, and budding using proper tools and equipment. He demonstrated two types of layering methods: simple layering and air layering, and three types grafting methods: side grafting, veneer grafting and topworking. He applied layering, grafting, cutting, and budding methods in some apple, pear, and lemon trees. After the demonstrations, the farmers could practice them in the fruit gardens. In the context of Kot Timal, specialist Upadhyay suggested to do pruning, training, manuring, and grafting in between mid-December and end of January (in late winter or early spring) before new growth begins.

More than 70 farmers attended the two day’s training. They were delighted to gain such a comprehensive theoretical and practical knowledge on fruit cultivation, probably first time for many of them. They have appreciated the Pax Earth for conducting such an important learning sessions and extended a sincere gratitude to specialist Upadhyay for sharing valuable knowledge. They have assured to apply these knowledge and skills in their respective fruit gardens. The program was coordinated by president Sujan Koirala and facilitated by secretary Manohar Sapkota.

Reported by PEN Secretariat!