Celebrating bountiful harvest, 4th Organic Orange Festival begins in Rüsoma Village

January 25, 2024 14 Views No Comment

Morung Express News
Kohima | January 25

Conceptualised with the intention to encourage rural farmers promote organic products and the opportunity for income generation, the 4th edition of the two-day Organic Orange Festival of the Rüsoma Village kicked off on Wednesday.

Rüsoma Village also known as the ‘Gardening village’ with a total of 14,100 standing fruit bearing orange trees and 28,700 saplings under plantation, a premium orange tree, the villagers claimed can bear about 70 to 80 kilogram.

Minister for Women Resource Development & Horticulture, Salhoutuonuo Kruse addresses the opening function of the festival. (Morung Photos)

It was learnt that orange plantation is not confined to orchards but grown in their kitchen gardens, courtyards, backyards and surroundings of terrace fields too.

With variety of shapes and sizes available, oranges from Rüsoma are touted as having the sweetest taste. It was also informed that the village economy has grown over the years on account of the Orange Festival.

Perseverance bearing fruits: Minister Kruse
Gracing the opening function as the special guest, Minister for Women Resource Development & Horticulture, Salhoutuonuo Kruse lauded the village for becoming a ‘success story’ in orange farming, solely through perseverance which is bearing fruits today.

Observing the immense potential in the village, she announced inclusion of Rüsoma village under ‘Horti Model Village’ 2025 to boost horticultural developmental activities in a holistic manner.

Describing Rüsoma as the most ‘progressive orange producing village,’ the Minister lauded the dedicated efforts and patience of the farmers in nurturing their farms.

With abundance of organic farm produces and oranges, she maintained, the future of the village holds immense potential which required collective efforts to shape it into one of prosperity and abundance.

To this end, Kruse suggested improvement of intercultural practices and embracing traditional wisdom while integrating modern techniques to keep pace with the dynamic developments in Horticulture.

The vision for Rüsoma should extend beyond being just another thriving orange producing village but the people must aspire towards making orange farming the primary source of livelihood for the farmers, she added.

The Minister also assured of all assistance from the department for market linkages to the farmers to sell their products and asked the farmers to approach the department for any assistance.

Additionally, she also highlighted the numerous health benefits of consuming oranges, emphasising their abundance of Vitamin C and their contribution to healthy skin, strong immunity, and blood pressure management. She also opened the stalls for exhibition and sale.

Earlier, Vizier Vimera, Convenor organising committee said the core objective of the festival is to provide exposure to the rural farmers and instil the importance of self-reliance through hard work, dedication and perseverance.

While the orange farmers and cultivators invested their labour and time in tending their orange orchards and gardens throughout the year to protect it from pests and diseases to have a good harvest, Vimera said that the event celebrates the rich agricultural heritage and promotes the local orange industry.

A good yield this year: Keyientsu
Meanwhile, Neituo Keyientsu, an orange farmer, shared that he has been engaged in managing the family’s orange plantation since childhood. Today, there are 4000 mature orange trees standing in his family orchard.

Interacting with The Morung Express at the Orange Festival, Keyientsu pointed to the oranges with pride and remarked, “These are the oranges we cultivated years ago.”

Explaining the process involved in orange plantation, he said orange bear fruits after 7-8 years.

However, the orangesare prone to pest infestations and farmers have to take several measures to kill the pests (eggs/larvae), particularly in the month of June.

If the pests are not prevented on time and the tree is infested, the oranges will turn sour and the trees may die within a year or two, he elaborated. “We need to be cautious during this period to prevent pest infestations.”

For the orange festival, he said about 3000 kg of oranges were brought covering a quarter of their farm, and the rest of the fruits will be supplied in wholesale to SechüZubza and other places.

Expressing satisfaction with this year’s yield, Keyientsu attributed the bountiful harvest to God, stating that they anticipate an income of approximately Rs 9-10 lakh this year.