Becoming a startup trekker; trekking to Langtang!

One day, one of my colleagues from Ireland asked me “Have you climbed Everest?” It was an obvious question for a foreigner to ask a Nepali but, forget climbing, I had never seen a Himalaya from a close distance.  Although it wasn't possible for me to climb any mountains immediately, I was determined that I am going to make it to see the Himalayas next season. I then started to google, have a look at the pictures, study itineraries, talk with people and find a good deal for me. One day after playing the futsal , I had a small chit-chat with my friend Sankalpa Bhattarai, who later wrote a travel itinerary for us, where he recommended me to go to langtang as it is the modestly comfortable place for the trekking startups. I agreed!

The destination was fixed. Now, I needed company. I talked with one of my friend and it was kind of fixed to go with him. But, some official works compelled me to postpone the trekking plan and also find a new company. Then, on one evening, during a small tea-talk at our junction, I convinced Sandeep Budhathoki (Mr. Rockman) to trek to lantang. Now, we were two people and we talked with Prasanna Paudel (Mr. Human) and involved him in the plan. Later Anil Krishnan (Mr. Walkman) also joined in the team and we four fixed the date of 30th October – 4th November 2013 for our first trekking to the Himalayas!

Day1:   Kathmandu-Dhunche

As we had scheduled last minute shopping, we reached machhapokhari (the place from which bus leaves to dhunche) at 7 o’ clock. We then purchased energy bars, drinks, snacks, and some trekking gears. On a typical day, there are three/four buses that go from Kathmandu to Dhunche and the last bus usually leaves at 8:30 ~ish. We had purchased ticket of the last bus and after finishing our shopping, we, the super excited people, went to the bus and marched towards Dhunche at 8:45. The weather was good with a clear sky and greeneries around the hills were beautiful. Soon, we started to crack the jokes and enjoyed the moments. Having a black topped road, the trip up to Trishuli was comfortable enough and we reached there at 12:15 for the lunch. After having the masu-bhat at Trishuli, we then headed towards Dhunche. Some parts of the road from Trishuli to Dhunche were very dangerous and we were scared at times. However, we safely reached dhunche at 4:30. We all were very excited and our team member Sandeep’s uncle made an arrangement for us to stay at the local hotel. After changing at hotel, we went for a tour of Dhunche bazar. We also purchased some noodles, bitten rice, coffee and other accessories required for the tour. After having the delicious food at the hotel, we played cards for a bit and went to the bed with an excitement for the next morning.

Day2: Dhunche-Bamboo

Unlike the most popular trekking route, we had chosen to follow the route from thulo bharkhu – thulo syabru – bamboo to  We reached Thulo Bharkhu at 7:30 and had the breakfast at a local restaurant of Mr. Dawa Magar, a kuwait returnee, who started his restaurant and homestay business with the savings from four years of hardship at abroad. He seemed to be a very hospitable guy and helped us to find the trekking trail. As showed by him, we travelled along thulo syabru hill. It is a high hill with a muscle paining steep. As we gained more height, there was more beauty at every other step. Soon, Lantang range started to peep us from the horizon. Walking ups and downs, we reached Thulo Syabru at around 12 o’ clock. Thulo Syabru, a bit expensive place, had a spectacular view. The females at this place seemed to be pretty engaged in sewing handmade scarfs, woolen caps, gloves etc. At this place, all people were curious about who we were, where we came from and where we were heading. Children were asking us to provide them the chocolates. Through the tone of their interaction, we could easily read that those people were very hospitable. Walking down from thulo syabru, we crossed a suspension bridge, walked by the river place called pahiro. During our conversation with the locals, we were told that we may encounter leopard in the way. We were horrified to hear that but thanks god we didn't encounter any leopard rather saw it's food - Kasturi deer. I spotted the kasturi on the next hill, but my friends denied. Sandeep told that it was a hill goat while Prasanna criticized us for saying deer and goat to a jackal. Haha... it was confirmed that we saw kasturi only after when we came to Syabru and saw the picture of kasturi on the local calendar.

(this image is taken from google)

The other notable things were the wild bee hives. The hills around pahiro were rocky and content with wild honey. Nepal has been known in the world for the best wild honeys and a typical traditional way of climbing a cliff with a more than 200 ft. rope and bamboo support to harvest honey. As we have a cliche, "One miss, life finish"! One can only imagine how deadly it can be. Good experiences were on the way and we finally reached Bamboo at 5:15. After having negotiation on rates, we ended our 11 hours of walk and slept at the river side cottage of Bamboo.

Day 3: Bamboo-Chyamki

We had a plan to reach Thangsyap on this day. The third day  was much similar to the second day walk. We had to walk the riverside ups and downs. Anil dai was the Usain Bolt in our team and he always lead the way. After walking ahead for a couple of minutes, he usually waited us in the riverside stone or on the sun-shining spot. Prasanna and Sandeep were fine at the walking speed and proved me a tortoise. As I wanted to catch Anil dai and increased the pace, the worst thing happened. I got hurt in the right knee. Hell! I had to walk three more days but I already needed a stick support at the first few hours of the third day. Tired of walking, we used to ask people what far it was to reach the destination in every 30 minutes. Fighting with the pain, I crawled with a stick support on my right leg and managed to reach Ghoda-Tabela at 3:30, two hours thirty minutes later than Anil dai. After having few minutes of rest and chit chat with Army dai at the place, we then headed towards our destination - Thangsyap. On the way, we were approached by many hotel owners with a request to stay at their hotel. The approach used by them can be generalized into four consecutive statements: 1.Where did you came from? 2. How many people are there in the group? 3. Where are you heading towards? 4. Please stay at my hotel. And, one the way, we met a dd, who walked together with us for an hour trying to persuade us to stay at her hotel. These people had figured out a place specific marketing technique to attract the customers. Since the dd’s hotel had the solar water facility, charger facility, and got a good deal of lodging and fooding, we decided to accept her offer and stayed at Hilltop Guest House, Chyamki (30 minutes above Tyangsyap)

Day 4: Chyamki-Kyanjing-Chyamki

With an aim to reach kyanjing gumba, climb kyanjing ri, and then return back to chyamki, we set off the trail at early 6 o’ clock. After one night of rest, I had less pain in my leg and we took a good pace. As usual, Anil dai took the lead and he showed us the way. After couple of minutes, my right knee started hurting and I decided not to climb kyanjing ri. When I talked about this to Prasanna, he also was not in the position to climb kyanjing ri. We then started chilling. We took pictures, slept anywhere in the ground, flirted with the tourists, cracked jokes on Anil dai and Sandeep. I said Namaste to all the foreigners while Prasanna chose to greet only lady tourists ;)  It was fun. With much struggle, we reached Kyanjin at 12 o’ clock. Anil dai and Sandeep were set to climb Kyanjing. We wished them all the best and had our lunch. Few minutes of rest after the lunch, we moved towards the yak cheese factory at Kyanjing. We had met the manager of this factory, Mr. Gyalpo Tamang on the other day during our trek. Few minutes of walk and we reached the cheese factory. The cheese factory, currently under the management of DDC, was established by Mr. Tony Hagen. After purchasing two kgs. of cheese for Rs. 1000 per kg., we made no delay to return back. On the way we met two little sisters and provided them the company to climb down to Langtang Village. Through these guffadi girls we came to know that almost every child at this trail studies at Kathmandu. Schools like Marsyangdi and Kanjirowa were very popular among them. We also came to know that people at this area spoke Tibetan language and worshipped Dalai Lama. Joking and flirting, we reached their home. As we requested, we they offered us a Sherpa tea. It was salty and good. After paying the bills, we returned back to Chyamki. On the way we met another guy where we stopped have a cup of milk tea. During the conversation, we came to know that he had a disabled son who studied at Kathmandu. The guy was kind of frustrated thinking the future of his son. My friend Prasanna, Nepalese representative at Humanistic Management Network, took no time to share story about Stephen Hawkins and made him aware that if provided good education, the disabled people can also do more. We shared many inspirational stories and tried to make him comfortable about his son. After having the tea, we thanked for their hospitality and returned back to chyamki with the torchlights on. Pretty soon, Anil dai and Sandeep came back and shared about their experience at Kyanjing Ri.

Day 5: Chyamki-Syabrubesi

One the fourth day, we already had conquered our destination and had to return to Syabrubesi. We packed up all our belongings and set off to syabrubesi. Climbing down the hills, we were often amazed by the distance covered by us during our up-hill climb. The km never came down, and even after 10 hours of walk, we just reached Pahiro. At pahiro, we talked to a local regarding life, politics, business. Through him we came to know that all the constructions in this area lie in the national park periphery and had to pay a bi-yearly royalty to the government. When asked about the next election and why the constitution wasn’t made? He replied that his business had nothing to do with the politics and the politics had nothing to serve him. He also stressed that the top leaders had a consensus to show that they fight against each other in the public appearances but were unified for the corruption. I was convinced that these people understood more politics than the educated illiterates. Simply Wow!

After leaving pahiro, we had to open the torch light as it was already getting dark.  Being lost and found in the jungle, we reached syabrubesi at 8 o’ clock. Syabrubesi is a pretty developed town with 3 B: beautiful girls, black topped roads and big markets. Since it was a laxmi puja day, we watched the deusi at syabri.

Day 6: Syabru-Kathmandu
Luckily, we found the last seat tickets to return back to Kathmandu. Tired of more than 45 hrs of walk, we immediately fall asleep in the bus. As we were travelling in the local bus, the number of standing passengers was greater than the number of seats. Some vomited inside the bus while some vomited from the hoot. It was such a chaotic situation there. We, being Nepali, adapted to the chaos but it definitely had an impact on the foreigners. We realized the need of putting a deluxe tourist coach in the route. Ups and downs, rights and left, we reached the valley at 6 o’ clock.


Langtang Valley trek is one of the best place to start for the trekking startups. It’s an easy route and a low budget trekking area. One can have the Nepali food on Rs. 200-300 per person. The food price strictly is based on the amount of bargain that you can do and you generally get the room on free. The houses generally have rooms that can accommodate four people per room. So, it is economic if travelled in a group of 4 people or 8 people. We had a great time at Langtang. Below written is the phone numbers of the hotels where we stayed on. We received a good hospitality on every place we stayed. You too have fun. Enjoy!

SunShine Guest House and Restaurant- Dhunche; 010-540123 9841893377
Sherpa Guest House - Bamboo; 010-670364
Hilltop Guest House – Chyamki; 9741197701

What do Venture Capital firms in Nepal look after while investing?

Couples of years back the Nepalese financial industry learned a new jargon “Venture Capital for SME’s”; a fund to be provided to the small and medium scale enterprises against equity and help them to scale up their business. With time the VC funds at Nepal has exponentially grown up and there is now a handsome pool of money ready to start an industry. Companies like Gazzab Social Ventures, Udhyami Impact Fund (UIF) have already invested in companies while other companies like Dolma Impact Fund and Business Oxygen have already started to look after the companies and put them in the investment pipeline. Despite the variation in size of the fund, the VC companies at Nepal would basically look after the following bullets while considering the investment proposal:

·         The story of the enterprise: Firstly, the (infant) VC companies are always looking for a good story to share. The story can be a story of the struggle of the entrepreneurs before and after starting the company, the social impact of the company, the problems that the company solved, the advantages gained by the local communities etc. Being player in a new market and thus having an obligation to set an example, the VC fund would look after an ESG (environmental, social and governance practices) which basically is a tool for the storytelling and thus in order to qualify for the investment consideration, the company should always look for the better ways to frame their story.

·         The originality of the idea: VC’s invest in the companies that have an innovative business model. The ground breaking idea that has the potential to change the prevailing course of action is best fit in this type of fund. Say the company who first introduced cloud computing definitely may have received the VC but the company who now typically modifies the feature of an existing app (say dropbox) is unlikely to get the funding. Having closely looked at the UIF winner karkhana, I find their business model interesting. It’s a company that helps engineering student commercialize their innovative projects. They have already worked on 3D printer, smart metering system, robots and etc. Branded as a hacker’s space, they make, break, fail, learn and develop new technologies amongst which some might be a world changing one. Seeing this potential, UIF should have considered investing in this company. Companies that align with the prevailing copycat syndrome aren't generally appreciated in this market.

·         The capacity of the team: In the field of VC, it is often said that you are not investing in the idea but in the people. By people it means their potential, their passion, and their confidence. Anyone can go to a business consultant, get their help to write an excellent investment proposal and apply for the fund. But, when it comes to the business, it is not only about the idea and the strategy. It’s about the science and art of execution. And, this comes only through the experience. So, the whole judgment criteria would be identification of the skills the team members complement each other the capacity of the team to identify the risks, find way to minimize those risks and execute the plans.

·         Profitability of the business: The rule of investment is simple; invest penny and earn pounds. Anyone who invests money would be looking for a higher return on investment. VC projects are quite risky and majority of them fail before reaching the maturity. So, a VC investor typically has a portfolio in different businesses where one successful business is expected to compensate the loss from other unsuccessful businesses and even add profit to the whole.

In addition to these bullets, there are things like chances of conflict of interest arising while investing, legal constraints, terms between parties, detailed due diligence, stakeholders view on the business and etc. But, with the above mentioned points, the business is likely to get a green signal for obtaining the Venture Capital.

Motivating a Theory Y practitioner!

The chapter ‘Motivation’, during my undergrad, was one of the most interesting chapters to me. During the span of eight semesters, I repeatedly studied motivation in eight subjects (management, psychology, OB, sales force management etc.) After being confident in the theories like Maslow’s need theory, Hertzberg’s theory, Equity theory, and all, I thought I had mastered in this topic. But, when it came to apply in my workplace I then understood the thing ‘motivation’ is more an art than science.

As a theory ‘Y’ believer and a practitioner, I was self-motivated to the work and I was always ready to take on more responsibilities, work more hours, and take everything as an opportunity to learn. I thought this would continue till the rest but, at one point of time, things started changing. Now, at this date (when I am writing this blog), I am not so excited about my work. Nowadays, I seldom check my emails before reaching my office compared to early morning coffee-time reply and I have strictly changed my office time from late night works to general time of 10-5. I am not so interested to take on more responsibilities. The view of “Through increased responsibilities, I am learning more and more” is now changed into “I am making all the hard efforts to make my boss earn more and more”. When I thought about it, I came to the conclusion that this is because of the lack of motivation. And, now I think, practitioners of theory Y also need continuous motivation. 

“What sorts of needs are unfulfilled to get demotivated?” I questioned myself. I had a good paycheck, a decision making authority, a respect from the subordinates, recognition from the clients and a very good appraisal.  There is no point on getting demotivated. And then after weeks of incubation, I identified that my workplace had missed an important component “flow of positive energy/synergy”. One of our team members wasn’t supportive/receptive, was too defensive and didn’t appreciate our feedbacks/inputs. Although we tried a lot, we couldn’t change the person and, to my surprise, our days passed on unwanted arguments to the level which at some point of time disrupted the balance in our team. Despite having other needs fulfilled, this eroded the motivation in our team. That’s not an unfulfilled need but one of the most important things for a group where they work as a team.

This made me understand more that motivation is not only about unfulfilled needs, desire, hygiene, satisfaction but also about the passion of the team, the synergy they create, and the positive energy they pass on. Unlike traditional school of thoughts, it is not only your supervisor or your subordinate responsible to motivate you, but you are responsible to pass on the energy, confidence, and motivate your team. Motivation is not about top-down, bottom-up or across-the-line, in fact it has no approach. One single person is not responsible to motivate you; rather you are responsible to motivate every single person in your team. 

Taking the role of a Human Resource Personnel

My decision to join a startup company 17 months back made me lucky enough to gain experiences over all the departments. I am fortunate to get the opportunity to play the role in a HR department. Me, myself, being an employee and also playing the role of a HR personnel provided me the opportunity the learn things from both perspective, and, most importantly, I learnt how to balance the interest of employee and an employeer.

By nature, employer wants the employee to work the most at a lowest possible cost. But, in the other hand, employee wants to get the maximum payment with a minimum level of effort on it. Here is where the HR role comes in, becoming a spokesperson of both and bridging the gap between expectation and delivery. Here are some of my insights on the role of a HR personnel:

• Always have a smiling face, keep your voice calm and try to make it full of melody.
  
• You are the one to find if everyone is OK and ready for the job. So, go and talk, talk and talk with everyone. Make them excited, make them prepared, make them enthusiastic.
  
• If you find an employee in a problem make sure the employee feels that his problem is recognized and will be given attention. (It is not always necessary that you put effort in solving the problem, but create such an environment where the employee thinks you are trying to help him/her)
  
• Be proactive, identify the team players and the isolated ones. Conduct events to socialize the latter ones.
  
• Never make delay to thank employees. Thanking for a job is the best incentive that an employee can get.
  
• Create a self-motivated work teams.
  
• Always make the employee feel special and communicate that they are important for the organisation.
  
• Keep your personal ego outside the main door of the office.
  
• Maintain the same level of professional relationship with the colleagues who may be (1) your high school's best friend or (2) your ex's new boyfriend.
  
• Make sure that they like you. If they don't, it's time to hop the job.

HR management is not only about forecasting the HR needs, writing job description, vacancy announcement, recruitment, selection, placement, orientation, training, compensation management, appraisal ... blah blah blah but also a deep study of human behavior and the exploration of the ways to mould the employee behaviour in ways that benefits the organisation. Always remember a HR mantra, "person-job-fit and person-organisation-fit is the key to HR success".

Telecom Penetration in Nepal

With the 18.9 million subscription out of 26.64 million population, the Telecom penetration in Nepal has crossed 70%. This penetration rate shares the same country which has the literacy rate of 70%, poverty rate of 35% and unemployment rate of 45%. Quite impressive!

The penetration growth rate which was 35% last year (2012) has now ended up to 23.52% this year. 

According to Nepal Telecommunications Authority , the telecom usage for Nepal is as follows link :

• Number of Fixed landline telephone subscriptions: 839,710 (Penetration rate: 3.15%)
• Number of Mobile-cellular telephone subscriptions: 15,334,413 (Penetration rate: 57.60%)
• Number of data & internet users: 5,043,091 (Internet Penetration rate: 18.94%)
• Number of Rural PCO’s: 2,622

Workplace Stress Management

• Stress develops in workplaces among employees due to various factors viz work overload, disturbing workplace environment, mistrust, unfairness, unclear job responsibilities and the lack of appreciation culture.

• Employees also get stressed at the workplace due to misunderstandings that arise from the difference in nature of their colleagues. This inhibits smooth work operations as work is now dependent on employee emotional levels. For example, a senior staff dominating his subordinates can create stress in the latter.

• Stress also costs companies through increased absenteeism, lack of enthusiasm for the job, poor performance, and bad attitude. Improvements in each of these areas can improve productivity and increase profits.

• Staffs' nature of hesitating to say 'NO' has been assigned to them makes them prone to workplace stress. They can limit their job load by respectfully and logically denying to undertake work overload.

• Properly managed circumstances can reduce stress, maximize employee productivity, and improve the living conditions of everyone.

• A well-managed workplace reduces stress and creates a fun environment to work in.

• The most important realization employees must have is that it is not the actual stressor which needs to be managed, but instead how they choose to relate to the stressor. Employees should be able to perceive attitude vs aptitude.

• When having to to do the dull work, staff must take time to explore within to draw out their passion, and then investigate how they can weave it  into their work. This then gives all of their effort a purpose and meaning. And when both purpose and passion are activated, employees become empowered to handle tasks and responsibilities which under different circumstances would have stressed them.

• People with high level of stress can be treated through proper counseling which works better than prescribed drug.

 

Cardamom Farming in Nepal

Introduction: Large Cardamom (Amomum subulatum Roxb.) or Alainchi in Nepali, is a perennial herbaceous plant with subterranean rhizomes that give rise to several leafy shoots and panicles. Large cardamom was introduced into Ilam (Nepal) in 1865 AD, nearly 143 years ago by Nepalese laborers from Sikkim. Its commercial cultivation started in Ilam much later in around 1953 AD only. The establishment of Cardamom Development Centre at Fikkal in this district in 1975 paved the way for the development of this crop.

Most of the cardamom producing areas is located in  Ilam, Panchthar, Taplejung, Sankhuwasabha, Terhathum, Bhojpur and Dhankuta districts. While the area has expanded to include more than 37 districts covering all development regions of the country.  Today, Nepal is the top producer of large cardamom followed by India and Bhutan (Large cardamom is produced by only these three countries). In 2012, Nepal  exported 5902 mt. ton of large cardamom worth Rs. 3,892,651,271.

Production: Cardamom is generally reproduced by vegetative propagation using suckers.  Economic yield starts from 3rd years onward after planting and its optimal yield period is 8-10 years. The total life span of Cardamom plants is about 20-25 years.There are sixteen varieties of Cardamom in the world. Among them five types of Large Cardamom are in farming practices across Nepal-Ramsey, Golsey, Sawney, Chibesey, and Dammersey. Although it varies from place to place, and variety to variety, about 26 kg of Cardamom (dry) is produced from 500 sq m (a ropani) of land.

Harvesting: The yield starts from 3rd years onward after planting. Fruit is ripened during August to November. Harvesting is done with the help of mechanical instruments e.g. knife. After harvesting, Cardamom capsules are separated manually by hands. The harvested fruits are processed mainly using traditional or improved drying technology (bhatty). The existing traditional practice of curing and drying the Cardamom is age-old types, where the capsules are dried by direct heating in the traditional bhatty. Under this system the Cardamom comes in direct contact with smoke and turns the capsule to dark brown black color with a smoky smell. To reduce smoke and produce light purple capsules, improved bhatties are being introduced.

Drying and Curing: After 18 to 24 hours of drying, the capsules are removed. But the total time of drying varies depending on factors such as fire management, initial moisture content of the capsules,weather condition and bhatty structures. There is no clear indicator to decide if the drying process is complete or not. In some cases, the capsules are either over-dried or under-dried at the same condition of fire and weather. Sometimes the farmers feel that the product is over-dried and they sprinkle water to increase weight. This practice leads to difficulty in maintaining consistent quality. In Taplejung district, there is a provision of premium price for improved bhatty products but prices also vary depending on tail-cut, moisture content, color and the level of dryness.

Packaging of cardamom: There is no specialized packaging and handling systems. Cardamoms are packed in jute sacks with capacity of 40 to 100 Kg. The packaging practices, however, differ with the intended duration of stocking.

• If the storage period less than 15 days, cardamom is packed in jute bags and left unstitched.
• If the storage period is more than 15 days, it is packed in jute bags with plastic sheet lining.
• If the storage period is more than one month, it is stored in bulk and is covered by Hessian sheets.

Marketing Channel: Cardamom makes its more than 90% of its sales to India without value addition. The Large Cardamom produced in is exclusively sold to Indian markets (Siliguri). Delhi and Amritsar are the potential markets in . After reaching India, the large cardamom are value added and sorted to export abroad. The typical market channel is:

Collector – District Traders – Regional Trader – Indian Traders  – Export to third countries

Market price of Cardamom:

The market price however is greatly influenced by the following major quality considerations:

• Size – the bigger the size of the capsules, the higher the price obtained. No grading is in vogue at present and mixing of all sizes and different cultivars is quite common.
• Color – more prices are offered to the capsules having a light pink color in international markets.
• Moisture contents – the products with high moisture fetch comparatively low price. The  moist capsules are also subject to easy fungal infection.

Cost of Cardamom at various market channels:

Farmers		Local Traders		Wholesaler		Exporter
Item	Cost	Item	Cost	Item	Cost	Item	Cost
Production Costs		Assembling Costs		Assembling cost		Assembling cost
Seed materials	8.63	Cleaning/Sorting	0.25	Sorting/Tail cutting	3.00	Cleaning/ Sorting	1.50
Fuel Wood	4.00	Packaging (in jute bags)	0.14	O'head Cost	2.00	O'head Cost	1.00
Labor	55.98
Others	3.43
Total Production Costs	72.04	Acquisition Cost	195.00	Acquisition Cost	210	Acquisition Cost	225
		Transfer Costs	0.75	Trucking Costs	1.04	Trucking Costs	0.71
Post Production Costs	1.50	Total Assembling Costs	196.14	Total Assembling Costs	216	Total Assembling Costs	228
Miscellaneous	0	Miscellaneous	0	DDC  & other tax	4.57	DDC & other tax/levy	5.00
Total Farm Level Cost	73.54	Total Trading Cost	196.14	Total Wholesale Level Cost	221	Total Export Level Cost	233
Losses	9.75	Losses	4.88	Losses	3.21	Losses	1.61
Margin	111.71	Margin	8.98	Margin	1.18	Margin	15.18
Avg Farm gate Price	195	Assembler level price	210	Wholesale level price	225	Wholesale level price	250

Export Figure:

S.N.	Country	Unit	Quantity	Value(NRS)
1	India	Kg.	5879702	3875674562
2	U.A.E.	Kg.	18000	15501059
3	Canada	Kg.	1000	1177650
4	China P. R.	Kg.	3000	240000
5	Nicaragua	Kg.	50	58000
Total			5901752	3892651271

From Date: January 2012 - December 2012

Production Yield (at farm level):

Country Average: 0.61 mt/ha; 30kg per ropani

Production Cost (Per Ropani): 73.50 * 30 = 2205

Sales Price: 195 * 30 = 5850

Profit per ropani: 5850-2205 = Rs. 3645

The Product HS Code of Large Cardamom is 09083010

The Product HS Code of Small Cardamom is 09083090

For more information visit these pages:

http://www.agripricenepal.com/newsdoc/20090716150653.pdf

http://www.cadp.gov.np/Document_Uploads/Reports/dd1d5812506492836355.pdf

http://www.snvworld.org/en/regions/asia/publications?filter=agriculture

http://208.67.23.5/~itsoftc/projects/tepc/

Helping Farmers in Nepal

If you are a farmer and stuck in a problem, you don't know what to do? Here is an agriculture counselling team ready to help you at free.

Established about a month ago, Agri-Care Nepal Private Limited (ACNPL) through the service 'Kisan Call Centre' has started toll-free counseling service for farmers.

With this service, farmers from any part of the country can get counseling on farm diseases from experts by making free calls to 1660-56-52999. Farmers can register their problem and nature of diseases through phone calls at the call center. Then the team of agro-technicians studies the case and provides technical counseling to farmers.

Vegetable Seed Production and Current Situation in Nepal

•   Over the last decade, around 50% of the domestic demand for the vegetable seeds was met by the domestic formal (government and private seed companies) sector.

•   The gap in demand of vegetable seeds is mostly met by imports and to some extent domestic informal sector  (farmer to farmer exchange, saved seeds, cross border informal seed supply)

•   Of the 2,000+ MT of vegetable seeds demand, around 3/4th of the total domestic demand in volume term is accounted by peas, (French) bean, onion, radish, cow pea and okra.

•   Cauliflower, cabbage, onion, radish and tomato are the top five vegetables in terms of area under cultivation, account for around 50% of the total area cultivated for vegetables in Nepal.

•   Radish and onion are important (in terms of vegetable seeds); in terms of cultivated area for vegetables and potential volume demand of commercial seed.

•   The current production of vegetable seeds (formal sector) would be less than half of the mentioned figure of around 950 mt (in 2008/9), i.e., around 400-450 mt. A trade survey in 2008/9, carried out by CEAPRED indicates that Kathmandu–based seed businesses bought not more than 340 mt of domestically produced vegetable seeds.

•   If five crops namely radish, broadleaf mustard, cress, peas and bean are excluded then it is estimated that over 80% of the domestic demand for seeds is met through imports.

•   Informal sources could account for anywhere from 30%-45% of the total vegetable seed consumed in Nepal, depending upon situation and circumstances

•   Most of these are introduced varieties of vegetables (cabbage, carrots, coriander, onion, spinach, tomato and zucchini) depend highly on imports. Indigenous varieties such as peas, cowpeas, radish, cucurbit crops, beans and rayo are lesser dependent on imports for seeds supply.

•   Taking an example of 2008/09:

•       Total estimated demand was 1,932 mt (VDD/ DoA),

•       Private / government sector supply was 957.3 mt (49.5%) (VDD/ DoA),

•       Formal imports: 407.8 mt (21.1%) (TEPC),

•       Data Gap comes to  566.9 mt (29.3%), which is met by informal channels and cross-border imports.