Local Brew's Niche Value

Nepal has been endowed with indigenous traditional knowledge in different areas of life owing to its diverse topographies, cultures, ethnicities and climate. Indigenous knowledge and skills have helped the people overcome various natural disasters and societal problems that have threatened their survival. However, protecting and promoting such local knowledge has been a big challenge as the currents of modernisation have hit almost all segments of people and their occupations. Big multinational companies are smart enough to claim their patent for the indigenous knowledge and products for their commercial benefits as seen in the case of Basmati rice and turmeric. Currently, many people have called for legalising the production of home-made liquor. Indigenous communities have asserted that they should have exclusive right to it; otherwise large corporations could take control of it. 

Recently, the Indigenous Women Rights Forum has demanded that the indigenous women should have exclusive rights to the liquor making skill that has been handed over to new generations since time immemorial. The Forum insists that the local alcohol should not be branded until its patent is secured by the local people.  If the patent right of the local liquor is granted to the indigenous communities, this will boost entrepreneurship and employment generation at the local level. However, it also requires creating environment conducive to the production and supply of the local alcohol. There has been rational ground behind the demand for recognition of local alcoholic drinks. Nepal imports alcoholic beverages worth over Rs 1.5 billion annually, according to the news report of this daily.  Besides, they are also illegally imported and in the form of gift. Similarly, the country also brings in ‘Chhyang’, considered the indigenous alcohol, from South Korea and China. 

When the country pays for a huge amount of money to buy alcohol from abroad, why does it not produce and promote local alcoholic drinks by maintaining its unique feature and quality standard? The locally produced liquor also saves foreign exchange reserves going out if the consumption of imported beverages is discouraged. However, alcohol has been produced only for the religious and domestic purposes at home. This is why the police destroy millions of litres of local liquor, which is produced illegally or for commercial purpose, in different parts of the country. The news report mentions that the security forces have spilled 10,000 litres of illegal alcohol and 80,000 litres of raw materials in Gadhimai Municipality in Bara district. Experts have stressed securing the intellectual property (IP) right of the indigenous food, drinks and other items, including home-made liquor. At the same time, those seeking to license to operate liquor industry must meet the quality, land and technological standards. 

Some entrepreneurs want to legalise micro-brewery although large distilleries and breweries are against the idea. It holds potential to promote Aila, a Newari drink, and Tongba that is popular in eastern Nepal. In 2015, the government decided to grant license to restaurants to establish micro-breweries so that indigenous alcohol can be promoted, which in turn would enhance the tourism industry. But in the absence of effective monitoring mechanism, the decision to run micro-breweries could not succeed. Micro-breweries are expected to control the illegal and sub-standard liquor but they must abide by clean and healthy production guidelines. As the production of alcohol often poses a moral question for it causes harm to health, authorities must roll out provisions to strictly regulate the sale and consumption of alcohol so that young people do not have easy access to it.