From Dambuk to Dubai: How ‘Orange Festival’ is Helping Arunachal Pradesh to Juice Up Production – News18
Apart from Dambuk, Kameng, Lohit and Siang are also well-known for orange production in Arunachal Pradesh. (Image: News18)
The ‘Orange Festival’ was organised by the state and central government for the eighth consecutive year to enhance the production of oranges in Arunachal Pradesh.
The famed Arunachal oranges have become the talk of the town again with the arrival of the five-day ‘Orange Festival’ in the state’s Dambuk village, located in the lower region of the Dibang valley. Apart from focusing on oranges, the festival also transforms the town of Dambuk into a vibrant hub of culture, adventure and music.
The festival was organised by the state and central government for the eighth consecutive year to enhance the production of oranges in the northeastern state. In order to make the function lively, bands such as Bombay Vi King and POD also performed in Dambuk.
Chief Minister Pema Khandu kickstarted the festival with a car rally and highlighted his government’s plans to increase the state’s orange production to boost Arunachal Pradesh’s economy. “Arunachal produces the best oranges in the country and therefore, we aim to increase our production. This festival has really helped us project Arunachal oranges at a bigger level,” the Chief Minister told News18.
What’s So Special About These Oranges?
To get understand what makes Arunachal oranges different and why the government is pushing harder to promote the citrus fruit, News18 travelled to one of the orange orchards in Dambuk.
Tokbom Borang, owner of NEFA orange orchard, told News18 that he wanted to build a life in Arunachal and therefore focussed on growing oranges. “I could have gone but wanted to do something here. It’s not that the production is huge every year. But the production increases every alternate year. Last year, I earned Rs 47 lakh. The central government is focussing on launching Project Orange here.”
Borang believes that since the onset of the ‘Orange Festival’, the fruit in the state has got some branding. The cultivators now also export oranges to Dubai.
Lhakpak Tshering, one of the main organisers of the festival, told News18 that organising the function in Dambuk was not easy as it happened to be one of the least populated districts of the state.
“Bringing people for such an event and branding oranges was not easy at all, but I must say that the ongoing infrastructure development in the state has totally changed the lives of people. They now come from different districts of the state and enjoy this festival.”
Local to Global
There are more than 50 orange gardens in Dambuk itself. Apart from Dambuk, Kameng, Lohit and Siang are also well-known for orange production. In the last 10 years, the production of oranges in the state has grown so much that the state now plans to go global with the fruit.
