Farmers started making attractive income mainly after local coffee found markets in the US, Japan and many European countries through Plantec Coffee Promotion Company and Royal Everest Coffee Mill.
Thanks to those intermediaries, Ganga Bahadur Lamichhane, a farmer from Tilahar in Parbat, said he earned Rs 75,000 from his 1,000 coffee plants last year. He produced 1,500kg of coffee beans last year. Encouraged by the returns, Lamichhane, who started coffee farming with just four plants in 2000, has now fully switched to coffee farming.
Thakur Prasad Paudel of Pakuwa VDC also said coffee farming was his major income source. Paudel said he quit other cultivating other crops after coffee promised better returns. “It has contributed greatly in my children´s education and managing household expenses,” he stated.
Farmers presently get Rs 28 per kg for fresh cherry and Rs 148 for dry parchment coffee. The rates are better than that recommended by National Tea and Coffee Development Board (NTCDB). The Board´s rates stand at Rs 25 and Rs 142 per kg respectively.
“We are offering farmers an attractive price,” said Bhawani Prasad Sharma, president of District Coffee Traders´ Association. He also said better rates offered at local level was one of the major reasons behind the increasing popularity of coffee farming in the district.
Statistics suggests that some 25,000 farmers in the district are involved in commercial coffee farming and they have produced 40 tons of coffee so far this year. The district has 75 coffee producers´ groups and farmers are getting support from District Agricultural Development Office and Coffee Promotion Project.
Agricultural specialists say that Nepali coffee is rich in taste as it is grown in high altitude, ranging from 800 to 1,700 meters. Because of this fact, Nepali coffee is being exported overseas over the last few years.
According to NTCDB, Nepal exported 127 tons of coffee produced in 40 hilly districts across the country in the last fiscal year.
Officials say that coffee can be developed as a leading exportable agricultural item. However, they suggest the farmers to concentrate on ways to enhance its quality.
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