Asha Gurung pruning his young apple trees in Rupandehi, he is glad he proved the experts wrong by growing special apples in the hot plains. All photos: Mukesh Pokhrel
Asha Gurung’s known ancestors all served in the British Army, they fought in both world wars. His grandfather lied about his age and was recruited when he was merely 16, so he was technically a child soldier.
After his father, Asha was next in line to join the Brigade of Gurkhas, but after passing his endurance test, he failed his physical because of cavities in his teeth. He remembers being disappointed that he could not carry on the family’s martial tradition.
But although Asha Gurung never got to serve with NATO forces in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province, or be deployed in Bosnia, at 51 he is on a war-footing to make a living as a farmer in the fertile plains of Rupandehi.
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He went to Germany to be trained in organic agriculture, and came back determined to turn his passion for farming into a successful business. Having worked in an apple farm and a nursery, he discovered that apples did not just grow in Mustang but would also thrive in the plains just as they did in Australia and Indonesia.
Not just any apples. Gurung’s apples are a special species called ‘nano apples’ of which he imported 500 seedlings from Australia.
“Apple trees can usually only be harvested after the first three years of planting. But these trees have begun to bear fruit in just 18 months. I plan to start producing them commercially this year,” says Gurung whose Lumbini Organic Farm and Research Centre near Bhairawa is now growing not just small apples but also a trove of 50 types of vegetables.
“All the apple seedlings had to be imported, which increased the costs of the business. I didn’t have that much money to set up my farm,” recalls Gurung, who spent eight years working in a restaurant and nursery to save up enough money.
Gurung then spent time meticulously running soil tests on the farm in order to ensure optimal crop production He even consulted an agricultural technician who had spent 12 years researching apples in Mustang.
Despite teaching Gurung how to properly plant the seedlings and then fertilise them, the expert warned Gurung that it was a waste of money and time to grow apples in the plains because the fruits need low temperatures.
“The technician spoke from his experience in researching apples in Mustang. But I had heard of apples being growing in hot climates, and so I pressed on,” explains Gurung, whose mother and brother and family live in the UK. He is eligible to settle in Britain as well, but is determined to stay put.
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“I can emigrate whenever I choose to, but I enjoy it here,” says Gurung. “I have crossed 50, at this age why should I toil in a foreign country? I want to live in Nepal, among my own people, work in my country’s soil and give people jobs here.”
Gurung seems to be born with a green thumb, and can make anything grow including dragon fruit, kumquat, apples, kiwi, pears, bitter gourds, long beans, cucumbers. His farm also bustles with goats, ducks, and chicken. Before the lockdown he was already selling up to Rs400,000 worth of vegetables and fruits.
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Profits have fallen though, and while Nepal’s farmers are struggling to cope with the coronavirus crisis, Asha Gurung’s apples are fruiting. He hopes to market them next year, but for now he is just glad he could prove the experts wrong by making apples grow in the Tarai.
Thanks to cavities in his teeth, Asha Gurung has found his purpose in life, to change the landscape of his native land and create employment for fellow-Nepalis in Nepal.
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