January 2: An orange festival kicked off at Ichchhakamana of Chitwan on Monday. The fruit festival has been organized by the Ichchhakamana rural municipality.

Minister for Agriculture and Livestock, Beduram Bhusal, inaugurated the festival and urged farmers to boost the orange production. He said that government had adopted policy of marketing agro products.

The Minister further shared that government was planning to export Nepali orange to China. "Don't worry much. We've signed an agreement with China. If the export is not possible within this year, we shall export the fruit from next year," he assured.

During the fair, various events such as orange eating competition, orange picking, distribution of agro tools to farmers, training by agriculture technicians will be held, said rural municipality chair, Dan Bahadur Gurung. The fair will continue till Wednesday. (RSS)