Promoting Inclusive and Market Oriented Spice Value Chain Development in Tanahun District of Nepal

Overview

Tanahun district, one of 77 districts of Nepal, is located in the middle of the country. This district plays an important role in linking Chitwan National Park in the lowland Terai with Annapurna Conservation and Makalu Conservation Area in the northern part of Nepal. This district includes several biodiversity significant areas that greatly contribute to the Chitwan Annapurna Landscapes. However, there are numerous threats to biodiversity conservation because of drought, landslides, forest fires, confrontations between humans and wildlife, floods, and haphazard road and infrastructure construction. The proposed project area is suitable for agricultural production. The climate is warm temperate, suitable for agriculture, including spice crops. The district market is connected with the largest and most populous cities of the country, namely Kathmandu, Pokhara, Bharatpur and Lalitpur. Agri-products, including spice crops from Tanahun district, play significant roles in the domestic market. However, due to low productivity, damage to crops by wildlife, low quality, post-harvest loss, and poor management of the market, neither small-holding producers nor market players are getting the potential benefits. On top of that, environmental problems and climate change are posing challenges to both biodiversity conservation and sustainable agriculture practices.
This project, therefore, aims to support landscape conservation and increase producers' incomes by strengthening the spice value chain and addressing biodiversity threats in the target area. It will convene awareness training on biodiversity conservation, forest restoration and pollution control; restore nature-based practices by prioritising indigenous knowledge; and build institutional capacity among producers for sustainable market supply of spices. Activities will be implemented jointly with local communities (community forest user groups, farmer groups, water user groups), cooperatives, the private sector, the Divisional Forest Office, and Myagde Rural Municipality.

• (1) Training of the Community Forest User Groups (CFUGs) and farmer groups on sustainable management of forests
• (2) Tree plantation in degraded community forests and private land
• (3) Forest fire control
• (4) Awareness training to CFUG members and farmer group members on the adverse impact of excessive chemical fertilisers and pesticide use, and actions to control pollution
• (5) Nature-based spice cultivation training
• (6) Establishment of community spice nurseries
• (7) Post-harvest processing and establishing storage facilities
• (8) Formation and strengthening of local farmer cooperatives
• (9) Market linkage and branding initiatives
• (10) Monitoring and evaluation
• (11) Policy advocacy and engagement