Ginger cultivation along with chiuri in Chure

By Hari Prasad Koirala,Urlabari, May 27: Letang Municipality in northern Morang has started commercial ginger cultivation in Chure after planting diploknema butyracea (Chiuri) in the same place. 

In 2080 BS, the municipality had planted 20,000 diploknema butyracea trees as per a planned programme to plant diploknema butyracea trees in Chure and control soil erosion.

About 90 per cent of diploknema butyracea trees have grown. 

After studying the possibility of commercial cultivation of ginger and turmeric in the same areas where growing trees of chiuri, 200 kg of ginger seeds were cultivated this year, said Sujan Magar, president of the Rajarani Community Forest Users Group. 

The chiuri and ginger have been cultivated on 5.5 hectares of vacant land of the Rajarani Community Forest Users Group of Letang Municipality-1 to increase source of income. 

Like to the community forests of the Tarai, the Rajarani Community Forest does not have trees of sal, asna and karma species. 

There is a problem in operating a community forest only by selling felled trees. Therefore, ginger and turmeric cultivation has been started to make additional income from the forest, said Magar.  He said that commercial beekeepers have become enthusiastic about chiuri plantation.

According to Mayor of Letang Municipality Bhupendra Kumar Lawati, 13.5 km of Chure area falls within the east-west geography of the municipality. 

After the construction of the Madan Bhandari Highway, the risk of landslides in Chure has increased. 

In Letang too, a small part of the Madan Bhandari Highway falls in Chure. 

The chiuri plantation programme has been introduced in Chure to minimise the risk of landslides, protect water sources, produce raw materials for Ayurvedic medicines made from chiuri, and expand the grazing area of bees. 

Mayor Lawati said, "The chiuri is an endangered plant. It has disappeared from the forest. The forest itself is becoming isolated. Only if there are all kinds of plants in the forest can that forest maintain environmental balance."

The municipality had allocated a budget of Rs. 1.5 million for tree plantation.  The municipality plans to protect the plants by hiring a caretaker and harvest the produce within three years.

He said that the income of the community forest will increase after the cultivation of ginger and turmeric along with chiuri is started.  He informed that ghee can be extracted by processing the chiuri seeds.