Field Visit to Nepal
This month we visited our community coffee project in Nepal, made some new partnerships, and drank a plenty of coffee!
(view from the plane flying to Pokhara from Kathmandu, the Himalayas in the background. Coffee grows in the mid hills of Nepal (foreground) at around 1300-2000 meters above sea level).
Coffee in Nepal is still in its infancy. Introduced in the 1980′s it still only produces roughly 500 tonnes in a country three times the size of Ireland and a population of nearly 30 million. There is a lot of potential for growth in the coffee sector here. However, with a high demand and a low supply, the prices for coffee are exorbitantly high. A single kg of unknown quality of coffee will cost you anywhere between $8-10! This can often skew the market here, and its difficult to ascertain the quality and standards of the coffee being grown.
(Airport in Pokhara, typically travel is on 12-18 seater planes)
The community that the 20/20 Project is working with in Nepal is located near Pokhara in western Nepal. It's a 30-minute flight from the capital Kathmandu and then a 3.5-hour jeep ride along roads/ tracks. Access to remote areas in rural Nepal is a big issue. The mountainous terrain means that landslides are a constant feature of life in rural Nepal, often cutting off access of supplies to local towns and villages. Coffee was originally brought in by the government to help stabilize the soil conditions on sloped marginal land in the 1980′s. The regular crops here of rice, barley and wheat mean that land is constantly plowed and in rainy season this causes the uncovered soil to flood down the mountains. This causes a number of issues, but landslides and soil infertility are the main ones affecting the livelihoods of farmers here. Coffee was introduced as a crop that doesn't need to be plowed and harvested every year (25 years or more for each coffee tree) which is grown with additional shade trees. This combination can lock the soil within the roots of trees, thus preventing soil loss in the rainy season and increases water retention in the dry season dramatically.
(The coffee nursery in our community project)
After the 3.5 hours in a jeep from the airport, we arrived at the coffee nursery which was started in June last year. The nursery is home to thousands of coffee saplings and is curated by eight women from a safe house project (a home for women who suffered from domestic abuse) run by our partners. The women have been trained to manage the nursery and are in charge of all the maintenance, weeding, watering etc. Come June, the nursery will be expanding its capacity to produce even more coffee due to the growing demand in the community. The seeds were planted at the beginning of the rainy season (June 2016) and will be distributed and planted out in June of this coming year and then the cycle will begin again. Coffee trees usually can take between 3-5 years to produce their first harvest
(coffee training day 1 at a primary school in the community)
After visiting the coffee nursery, we met five farmers who have been trained in the programme. We interviewed them and heard their stories and why they wanted to learn more about coffee growing and the impact that this could potentially have on their incomes and on their families livelihoods. They told us that coffee can fetch ten times the price of some of the traditional cereals that farmers in this area are growing, however, the three-year gap from seed to harvest is a large barrier to a number of farmers. Most are portioning off their land and planting some coffee trees (roughly 50, which allows them to join the community cooperative) and continuing to grow cereals and rice in the meantime.
We also visited one of the community training sessions which was being hosted at a local primary school. This was the first day for these participants of this training programme. The training begins with the practical issues, such as price, costs, expected revenues, skills needed, timelines, etc. it then continues for several days which also include practical demonstrations on land preparation, planting, maintenance and other issues such as how to deal with climate issues and pests. The training ensures that the participants have a holistic understanding of coffee farming before engaging with growing actual coffee. The farmers who have completed the training will have access to the saplings which are currently growing in the nursery.
(Bishnu Maya Poudel photographed on her farm near Pokhara)
This is Bishnu Maya Poudel, one of the 115 farmers who has been trained recently. She already keeps a small number of coffee trees. However, she has had no formal training in coffee growing and has had mixed results from her crops from year to year. Without an existing cooperative in her area, the coffee prices can vary dramatically depending on the farmer's access to someone who can process it.
“the training has really helped me to understand how to get the most from my coffee trees. I learned about the lifecycle, composting and how to deal with some of the pests we are experiencing. This year I hope to expand my coffee farm by over 50 trees. With 50 trees, I can join the community cooperative and will be able to sell my coffee for a good price there.”
This project has been running for just over eight months now and with the established nursery and the training in full swing, it was great to see the impact the project is having in the local community. To date, 115 farmers have been trained and a 265 will be trained before June. We look forward to the journey ahead, working in partnership with our donors in Ireland and the community in Pokhara, Nepal.
