Nepal: Crop mix strategy for food security (Part 2)
Atul Chatterjee
August 15, 2008
The 15th SAARC meet. concluded at the start of August in Colombo, Sri Lanka in which one of the themes was food security for the region with special reference to tackle shortages. The discussions also voiced the need to become a food surplus region without detailing a modus operandi.
Crop mix has two vital implications 1. The financial return to the farmer from sale of different products grown on land 2. The ´return´ to the soil
In large parts of the world farmers are able to grow crops of just one variety either as cash crops or for self consumption. Examples are wheat grown in the USA or Punjab India. When farmers have small holdings of just about an acre or so, they also grow just one crop.
A large number of farmers in Nepal have small holdings, so should they only grow for themselves? If they grow for the market, what should they grow? How can government and aid agencies help them in marketing produce.
Assume they are able to put aside a small portion of their land maybe just 100 square feet for a crop they intend selling in the market? What criteria should they adopt to select the crop?
Firstly, the crop should be one which they can store over a long period of time and not perish quickly. If they grow cucumbers it will not stay for long. On the other hand crops like garlic, onions, turmeric etc do not perish fast and can be stored for long. A farmer can take it down to a selling point at his or her own convenience.
Second, the crop should bring in a good price around the year. All the three above mentioned crops bring in a very good price in India. Indian businessmen would be willing to buy in Nepal and transport it to India, taking responsibility to speed past border control irritants that may arise.
The problem is that linkages for the farmer are not present. It is the middleman who gets profits. So agencies should ensure these linkages.
At present the largest accessible market for Nepal is India (it periodically freezes the export of onions, very few countries import Indian garlic because these are smaller and pungent, turmeric is consumed in very small quantities by the rest of the world).
Besides these products there are chilies (grown extensively on Chinese side of the Himalayas), various herbs and condiments that be grown.
However, the key is to have a marketing organization in position which can help the farmer select a crop and then sell it. Further by providing quality seed to the farmer the agency can ensure that a crop which it can market is sown. Qulaity seed as all farmers know is a vital prerequisite of a successful crop.
The other aspect of a crop mix is for the health of the soil. Traditionally farmers change the crop they plant and this helps in regenerating the soil. However, soil analysis can tell farmer if their soil lacks micro-nutrients, nitrogen, potassium or phosphates. This is useful for farmers who are applying fertilizers.
Again there has to be a soil testing laboratory where this can be done. Very often just providing micro nutrients can bring about a jump in productivity. While this is obviously for the better off farmers it raises the level of knowledge and poor farmers also start thinking in terms of increased productivity.
All in all a framework to pick up produce has to be established, and look at the Indian market as the direction in which the produce can be sent.
(In Part 1 the writer had said that by changing beekeeping strategies crop yields could be increased since bees are a pollinator.)
A crop mix strategy along with a marketing framework can do wonders for a poor farmer
bees, beekeeping, crop mix, fertilizer, farmers, micro nutrients, turmeric, garlic, herbs, condiments, chilies, SAARC, Nepal, India, marketing
Crop mix has two vital implications 1. The financial return to the farmer from sale of different products grown on land 2. The ´return´ to the soil
In large parts of the world farmers are able to grow crops of just one variety either as cash crops or for self consumption. Examples are wheat grown in the USA or Punjab India. When farmers have small holdings of just about an acre or so, they also grow just one crop.
A large number of farmers in Nepal have small holdings, so should they only grow for themselves? If they grow for the market, what should they grow? How can government and aid agencies help them in marketing produce.
Assume they are able to put aside a small portion of their land maybe just 100 square feet for a crop they intend selling in the market? What criteria should they adopt to select the crop?
Firstly, the crop should be one which they can store over a long period of time and not perish quickly. If they grow cucumbers it will not stay for long. On the other hand crops like garlic, onions, turmeric etc do not perish fast and can be stored for long. A farmer can take it down to a selling point at his or her own convenience.
Second, the crop should bring in a good price around the year. All the three above mentioned crops bring in a very good price in India. Indian businessmen would be willing to buy in Nepal and transport it to India, taking responsibility to speed past border control irritants that may arise.
The problem is that linkages for the farmer are not present. It is the middleman who gets profits. So agencies should ensure these linkages.
At present the largest accessible market for Nepal is India (it periodically freezes the export of onions, very few countries import Indian garlic because these are smaller and pungent, turmeric is consumed in very small quantities by the rest of the world).
Besides these products there are chilies (grown extensively on Chinese side of the Himalayas), various herbs and condiments that be grown.
However, the key is to have a marketing organization in position which can help the farmer select a crop and then sell it. Further by providing quality seed to the farmer the agency can ensure that a crop which it can market is sown. Qulaity seed as all farmers know is a vital prerequisite of a successful crop.
The other aspect of a crop mix is for the health of the soil. Traditionally farmers change the crop they plant and this helps in regenerating the soil. However, soil analysis can tell farmer if their soil lacks micro-nutrients, nitrogen, potassium or phosphates. This is useful for farmers who are applying fertilizers.
Again there has to be a soil testing laboratory where this can be done. Very often just providing micro nutrients can bring about a jump in productivity. While this is obviously for the better off farmers it raises the level of knowledge and poor farmers also start thinking in terms of increased productivity.
All in all a framework to pick up produce has to be established, and look at the Indian market as the direction in which the produce can be sent.
(In Part 1 the writer had said that by changing beekeeping strategies crop yields could be increased since bees are a pollinator.)
A crop mix strategy along with a marketing framework can do wonders for a poor farmer
bees, beekeeping, crop mix, fertilizer, farmers, micro nutrients, turmeric, garlic, herbs, condiments, chilies, SAARC, Nepal, India, marketing
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