Chireeta price surges after seven years

By Chandra Pandak, Taplejung, Jan. 27: The rise in the price of Chireeta (Swertia chirayita) has made farmers and traders in Taplejung happy.

This year, the herb, called Chiraito in Nepali, is fetching higher prices than cardamom, the main cash crop of the district. This has excited farmers and businessmen.

According to local collector Govinda Raj Baral, 40 kilograms of Chireeta fetches Rs. 32,000 in the market. “The price is even higher in the markets of Birtamod, Jhapa where 40 kilograms can go for Rs. 35,000,” he said. Cardamom, on the other hand, sells for around Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 27,000 per 40 kilograms.

This increase in price is driven by a rise in demand, mainly in India.

Previously, China used to be the chief market for Nepali Chiraito. However, demand from our northern neighbour all but dried up in the last seven years and the business came to a standstill. Farmers told The Rising Nepal that last year, they had to sell 40 kilograms of the herb at Rs. 10,000. Many left the occupation altogether and only those who could not grow anything else kept cultivating the medicinal plant.

“Those who did not give up have now been rewarded,” Dhan Bahadur Labung Limbu, a farmer in Ikhabu, Phaktanglung Rural Municipality–4 expressed elation. 

Limbu added that the high prices had encouraged farmers to sell. “Even those who stopped growing the plant are looking to recultivate,” he shared.

However, because so many left the field in the past years, the district has not been able to meet the spike in demand, said traders. Nevertheless, they have been collecting the amount that is produced and exporting it to India via Birtamod.