Lack of policy implementation hits honey promotion

Due to the lack of policy implementation, synergy among development partners helping honey producers, coupled with low consumption in the domestic market has hurt the honey market chain, said experts during an interaction on 'Honey value chain', organised by the Directorate of Commercial Entomology Development, Department of Agriculture, and Ministry of Agriculture Development, in support with the Ministry of Industry, and Micro-enterprise Development Programme under UNDP, here today.

"Though honey is a competitive and high value product, it has not been able to grab the attention of domestic consumers due to lack of awareness," said an officer at SNV Surendra Joshi. SNV is one of the development partners helping promote honey.

The per capita consumption of honey in Nepal stands at less than 50gm, which is very low as compared to other countries, he said, adding that lack of policy implementation has hit the promotion of honey.

The country had, some seven years back, brought a policy to promote honey and reduce poverty, but government agencies failed to implement it making people suffer.

"Despite the policy being in place for the last seven years, honey could not be promoted due to lack of ownership and institutionalisation," said joint secretary at the ministry of agriculture development Prabhakar Pathak.

"Besides increasing domestic consumption, honey also needs a market strategy to boost exports," he said, adding that it could be linked to the Agriculture Development Strategy for a better response.

Likewise, presenting his paper, an official at the Trade and Export Promotion Centre (TEPC) Rajendra Singh said that the country has the potential to produce over 10,000 tonnes of honey. "But an unorganised supply chain, scattered production, and low supply capacity have made honey export cumbersome," he added.

According to TEPC data, Bangladesh is the key market for Nepali honey, as it had imported $79,000 worth of honey from Nepal in 2011, of the total $83,000 worth of honey exported from Nepal. "Nepal had exported a total of 33.442 tonnes of honey in 2011," the data revealed.

"Though Japan has offered zero tariff to Nepal for honey export, we have failed to exploit the Japanese market," Singh added. "Nepal can export honey to Belgium, Germany and the US as these markets have been importing honey in increased amounts."

The total global export volume of honey stands at 500,000 tonnes, whereas China alone exports 99,988 tonnes and Argentina exports some 72,356 tonnes, according to data. Similarly, global imports grew by 15 per cent in value and four per cent in quantity from 2007 to 2011.

However, Nepal needs to commercialise the development and promotion of honey to increase its competitive strength, establish resource centres — including queen breeding — establish accredited Testing and Certification Laboratory of international standards, update laws, regulations and strictly implement for quality and standard, organise training programmes on production and processing, use of insecticides and pesticides, and sensitise farmers on the benefits of beekeeping, pollination and demerits of pesticides.

Norway shows interest in hydropower

Norway has shown interest to invest in hydropower projects in Nepal as the the country is facing acute power shortage.
Norwegian investors are interested to develop hydropower projects in Nepal, the Scandinavian country's International Development Minister Heikki Holmas said in a meeting with caretaker finance minister Brashaman Pun here at this office today. "Norwegian have special interest in Kirne (68 MW) and Tamakoshi III," he said. Holmas also suggested Pun to develop a General Electricity Planning to accelerate energy projects.
The country has been facing up to 14 hours nationwide load shedding since last three years.
"Nepal should get constitution in time and move toward economic development," he said, adding that peace along with law and order is prerequisite for the development.
In the meeting, Pun thanked Norway for its support in hydropower, education and establishment of peace in the country.
Finance Secretary Krishnahari Bastoka informed the visiting minister of Investment Year 2012-13 and asked help in attracting foreign direct investments. "We have investment law and policy to attract foreign investors," he said, giving examples of hydropower sector and Investment Board that has been set up to attract investors as an one-window solution.
According to him, hydropower developers can get full tax exemption for 10 years and half for the next five years to encourage both domestic and international hydropower developers.
"The banks and insurance sector have to pay 30 per cent tax followed by 25 per cent by entrepreneurs, 20 per cent by industries and 15 per cent by the exporters," Baskota informed.
Meanwhile, SNV's country director Rem Neefies also met finance secretary Baskota in his office today. Neefies urged him to develop agriculture sector and export agriculture products in the international market. SNV has been providing around $3 million to Nepal for environment, forest, energy and social development projects.

ADB to help poorest Nepali farmers diversify crops, boost incomes

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will help some of Nepal's poorest farmers shift production from traditional low-earning crops into high-value commodities, resulting in improved quality of life and incomes for nearly 19,000 households.

ADB's Board of Directors approved a grant of $20.1 million for the Raising Incomes of Small and Medium Farmers Project, which will support nearly 900 farmer groups in 10 districts in underdeveloped western Nepal.

"This initiative will sharply increase the production of high-value commodities in target areas, resulting in greater profitability for farmers, including many women," said Ahsan Tayyab, head, Project Administration Unit in ADB's South Asia Department.

Agriculture's contribution to Nepal's economy has dropped in recent years but nearly three-quarters of the rural population are still reliant on the sector for a living. Small farmers struggle to make ends meet with incomes limited by low returns from traditional crops such as rice and wheat, small land plots, low levels of technology, a lack of access to credit, and weak supply chains. Men often migrate from the countryside in search of better paid work, leaving women to run farms, and surveys of small farmers show that more than 65 per cent of households are living below the poverty line.

"There is rising demand for higher value commodities such as fruits, vegetables and spices as urban incomes increase, the tourism sector grows, and as export opportunities open up to India and regional markets," said Tayyab.

The project will help farmers move into higher income earning crops and build up supply chain links to buyers and markets. It will include a grant facility so farmers can invest in new postharvest facilities such as processing, storage and packaging. It will also provide farmers with agribusiness training and assistance for business plans to allow them to produce and add-value to new commodities. Support for new farm technologies, including climate change adaptation measures, will be of key benefit to disadvantaged groups, including indigenous peoples and households headed by women.

"The project design will help catalyse private sector investment and establish strategic market linkages, and by 2017 the 7,500 hectares of land contracted to produce high value commodities will have estimated annual output of 64,500 tonnes with a projected retail value of $31 million," said Tayyab.
The grant from ADB's concessional Asian Development Fund will cover 60 per cent of the total investment cost of almost $34 million. Beneficiary groups will extend $7.6 million equivalent, with the government providing $5.3 million and the Netherlands Development Organisation, SNV, supplying $490,000 to cover the project's agribusiness and value-chain backstopping package.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives will be the executing agency for the project, which is due for completion in June 2018.

AEPC receives $592,200 from GPOBA

The World Bank implemented Global Partnership on Output-Based Aid (GPOBA) project in Nepal has made the first payment of $592,200 to the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) for successful 2008 delivery of verified new biogas plant installations in Nepal. This project provides increased access to clean and affordable energy for rural Nepali households, and has successfully installed 4,772 new biogas plants eligible for payment under the GPOBA grant.
The World Bank-administered GPOBA programme signed a grant agreement with the Government of Nepal in October 2007 providing a total of $5 million in support, which will provide payment for the verified installation of up to 37,000 new biogas plants in 48 remote districts of Nepal. The programme is being managed by the Alternative Energy Promotion Center (AEPC) with implementation support provided by the Biogas Sector Partnership Program-Nepal (BSP-N). It uses an innovative 'output-based aid' approach in which subsidy payments are made based on verified results.
"The project builds on Nepal's impressive track record with mainstreaming biogas plants as a practical and affordable solution to energy problems in rural Nepal," said Susan Goldmark, World Bank Country Director for Nepal. "It converts animal and human waste into a clean source of cooking fuel -- thereby removing the need to use wood, dried dung and other fossil fuel sources of energy. The biogas byproduct can also be used as a natural fertilizer to increase agricultural yields. This is a small but important step to improving the lives of rural Nepalis."
The GPOBA project aims to support replacement of traditional energy sources used by the rural population, such as firewood and kerosene, with modern biogas plants. Biogas plants use anaerobic decomposition of organic material (mostly animal manure) to produce a flammable gas called biogas, which can be used to meet rural cooking and lighting needs. GPOBA's grant payment is made to AEPC for successful commissioning of new biogas plants ranging in capacity from 4m3 to 8m3. Even the smallest plants with a 4m3 capacity produce enough gas to run a cooking stove for nearly 2.5 hours daily.
Switching to biogas reduces carbon emissions and decreases the frequency of respiratory infections that result from burning solid fuels in poorly ventilated households. Families will also save approximately three hours of labour per day due to the conveniences of gas in addition to financial savings by not purchasing other fuels and fertilizers. Women and girls, who are traditionally responsible for collecting firewood and cooking and cleaning, will be the project's primary beneficiaries. Furthermore, access to biogas will enable families to use gas lanterns after sunset providing light for children's studies or other household activities.
"The GPOBA fund received will help AEPC to install additional biogas plants in the future in more remote and needy areas in Nepal," said Dr Narayan Prasad Chaulagain, Executive Director of AEPC.
Saroj Rai, Executive Director of BSP-Nepal added, "The GPOBA funding for BSP is an achievement that has further motivated us to promote biogas with increasing focus on market development in remote areas."
The GPOBA funds will complement the Fourth Phase of Nepal's Biogas Support Program (BSP-IV), which aims to support biogas plant installation for over 135,000 new rural households through 2011. Biogas Support Programme was started in 1992 by the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV) together with the Government of Nepal to promote environmentally friendly and affordable energy to remote rural areas. It has helped install over 200,000 biogas plants till date in rural Nepal.
The full Nepal Biogas Programme is co-funded by the government, SNV, and the German Development Bank (KfW). It is also receiving carbon finance revenue from the World Bank Community Development Carbon Fund (CDCF).

Cardamom sector losing competitiveness

Despite competitive advantage, large cardamom is slowing losing its market due to lack of policy-level backing, various taxes levied by local government agencies and extortion by militant outfits.
"Though Nepali cardamom has competitive advantage over the Indian one, India is exporting large cardamom to 10 countries but Nepal is exporting it to only four countries," Dr Devbhakta Shakya, executive director of Agriculture Entreprises Centre (AEC) said during a interaction on 'Policy Needs for Cardamom Sub-sector Development' organised by the AEC/Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) here today.
"Last year Nepal exported to four countries including Afghanistan but this year, Afghanistan did not import from us," he said adding that Nepal has been unable to compete with the cardamom from Sikkim and is losing markets like Afghanistan.
On one hand, farmers have to pay extortion money to militant outfits and on the other the government also milks the sector through various taxes, Shakya added.
Though large cardamom was introduced in Ilam in 1865 its commercial farming started only in the late 70s. Currently, 37 districts grow large cardamom. Of the total output, more than 97 per cent is grown in seven districts of the Eastern Development Region. "Taplejung, Panchthar, Ilam and Sankhuwasabha districts grow more than 86 per cent of the total production," Shakya said adding that their share in export comes to around 90 per cent. India is the largest importer of Nepali cardamom. Some 33,000 families are engaged in growing klarge cardamom.
Shakya opined that diversification of market was a must for the development of the sector, "Nepal needs to explore more markets. Bangladesh could be a potential buyer," he said.
Nepal is losing its competitive edge also due to lack of well-equipped ventilated storage places and high transportation cost. "Besides, Nepali cardamom desperately needs brand promotion like Nepali tea for grabbing the international market," Shakya said.
More than 80 per cent farmers are still dependent on local traders for cash at much higher rates of interest of 18 per cent to 36 per cent. "Cardamom farmers may be new avenues for financial institutions as they are dependent on non-banking channels for cash flow," he suggested.
Though some institutions like SNV are helping these farmers, government agencies like district development committees also need to focus on the issue. Suggesting some long-medium and-short term strategy for the development of large cardamom sector, the AEC executive director also urged the government to bring a special package programme in the next fiscal year's programme.
Dr Gunanidhi Sharma, vice-president of National Planning Commission (NPC), Kush Kumar Joshi, president of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and Krishna Prasad Tamrakar, president of Agriculture Enterprises Centre (AEC) also expressed their views on the occasion.