Kali Bahadur Oli is a resident of Mahadevpuri - 7, Banke in the Tarai Arc Landscape (TAL). Oli owns less than one hectare of land where he used to plant traditional crops such as maize and wheat to provide for his family of four.
Living in the buffer zone of Banke National Park, Oli had been facing difficulties making ends meet from the farming of traditional crops. His produce was often prone to damage from wildlife such as rhinos and wild boars that would enter farmlands from the adjoining forests.
Mentha farming is but one of the many initiatives being implemented under the Tarai Arc Landscape program with the objective of building community ownership and stewardship in conservation. Nepal is one of the leading examples in community-based conservation through successful conservation initiatives that enable people to live in harmony with nature and wildlife.
Mentha, also known as mint, has multiple benefits. The oil produced from Mentha is used in cough medicines and it fetches higher returns than traditional crops. Likewise, mentha is unpalatable to wildlife. Hence mentha plantations are not harmed by wildlife and in effect serve as natural barriers to other farmlands as wildlife does not come close to it.
Mentha is easy to harvest and profitable. Kali Bahadur sowed mentha in February this year and within just four months he managed to make a clean profit of around Rs 17000 – almost double of what he used to make from selling traditional crops. The profit from mentha has given Kali Bahadur the freedom to plant rice – the main crop.
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With the support of the Tarai Arc Landscape program, local people such as Oli gained access to technical assistance through trainings on mentha plantation, distillation and purification. The program also provided financial support for the installation of distillation units for processing mentha oil, each with a capacity to process one ton of mentha at a time, benefiting around 3,500 households in Banke alone.
Currently, one kilogram of mentha oil fetches over Rs 1350 in the market. The primary market for this essential oil is Nepalgunj and from Nepalgunj, these oils are exported to India to be used in various products such as herbal soap, ointment, cough syrups etc. The price however fluctuates due to lack of proper market regulation.
Living in the buffer zone of Banke National Park, Oli had been facing difficulties making ends meet from the farming of traditional crops. His produce was often prone to damage from wildlife such as rhinos and wild boars that would enter farmlands from the adjoining forests.
Mentha farming is but one of the many initiatives being implemented under the Tarai Arc Landscape program with the objective of building community ownership and stewardship in conservation. Nepal is one of the leading examples in community-based conservation through successful conservation initiatives that enable people to live in harmony with nature and wildlife.
Text and Photos: Simrika Sharma
