Bajura farmers worry in lack of coffee market

By Sher Bahadur Sarki,Bajura, Feb. 9: Farmers in Bajura are worried as the coffee produced in the district has not been able to find market.

Krishna Bahadur Shah of Badimalika Municipality–4, Rila, said that he brought coffee seeds from Palpa and planted them in 2003. 

The coffee plants are now producing well, but due to the absence of a market, the coffee often rots on the trees, he said.

He said, “Currently, I have many coffee plants in my farm. Out of them, 25 to 30 coffee plants have been growing well since last year. Last year, more than two quintals of coffee was produced. This year too, it has grown more than that. Even when coffee grows, it rots on the plant because it has not found a market anywhere.”

According to Shah, no one in Bajura had previously cultivated coffee. 

He was the first to bring coffee from Palpa and start farming it locally. The coffee grows well in Bajura, but due to the lack of market access, he and other coffee farmers are facing serious difficulties.

Dozens of farmers, including Krishna Bahadur Singh, Dev Nath of Rila have started coffee farming. Due to the lack of a market, they have not been able to sell their coffee anywhere.

Although coffee farming used to be good in Bajura, farmers here are suffering a lot because they do not find a market for it. They used to pick coffee every year to sell it, but it rotted as soon as it did not find a market.

Farmers have also complained that the Agricultural Knowledge Centre Bajura has not shown much interest in it. 

Despite good coffee production in Rila and nearby areas, farmers are now preparing to leave coffee cultivation altogether because of the marketing problem.

"Once a businessman came to our field. We sold him coffee for Rs. 100 per kilo," said Deepak Shah, a coffee farmer from Badimalika-4, Rila.

He said, “The price of coffee is good in the market now. There is a demand for coffee everywhere. But the coffee produced in Bajura has not found a market anywhere. We do not have the necessary equipment to make coffee ourselves. It would have been easier if the local government and the Agricultural Knowledge Centre, Bajura had provided us with some help for that.”

Despite repeatedly approaching various institutions for support in coffee production, farmers said that no one has shown interest so far. 

Shah added that programmes providing subsidies should be introduced for farmers, but they have never received any of such support.

More than 100 countries in the world produce coffee, and around 50 of them are considered major coffee-producing countries. Nepal has a cool and mild climate suitable for producing high-quality coffee. 

The country has abundant green hilly terrain with good slopes that do not retain water. There are also sufficient water sources required for irrigation and processing. Therefore, Nepal has great potential for coffee cultivation.

All coffee available in Nepal is of the Arabica and Bourbon varieties grown at an altitude of 1,000 to 1,600 metres. In most places, hand-picked coffee is processed manually or in small pulping machines.

Nepali coffee is mainly exported to Japan, America, and European countries.The Agricultural Knowledge Centre, Bajura, stated that it was not aware that coffee was being produced in Bajura. 

"We will go to Rila once and consult with the coffee farmers. How much coffee they produce. When there is a lot, we will send it out, when there is a little, we will make a plan so that it will be consumed in the district market for the first time," said Jasiram Sahni, Chief of Agricultural Knowledge Centre, Bajura.