KANCHANPUR, May 19: The herbs processing plants established in the buffer zone of Shuklaphanta National Park in a bid to elevate livelihood of locals have been left unused.
The plants were set up with the support of donor agencies, but lack of market hit the business to the extent that these facilities went derelict.
Even the farmers in the buzzer zone quit farming of medicinal plants. It caused utter neglect to the processing plants of millions of rupees.
The facilities set up at Kasaraul, Ward No 6; Juda, Ward No 7; and Beldandi, Ward No 8 of Shuklaphanta Municipality are derelict. The plants were installed by aiming to promote cultivation of medicinal plants, thereby ensuring alternative income to buffer zone people and reducing human-wildlife conflict.
Herbs & spices that heal
The donor agencies had helped in setting up shed houses to dry up the herbs in addition to the plants. But, the shade houses are now in a rundown state.
According to Bharat Bahadur Bista, chairman of the Sundevi Consumer Group in the buffer zone, the residents were encouraged to cultivate herbal plants including chamomile and mint arguing that these herbs would not harm wildlife. “The locals had begun the processing and producing of oil and securing rewarding income too,” he said.
According to him, farmers sold the chamomile and mint oils they produced for Rs 25,000 to Rs 40,000 per litre in the initial phase. The farmers were excited once the traders approached them at doorsteps to buy herbal products. They were also planning expansion of the herbal farming.
But the farmers' engagement and encouragement could not continue long, as the products badly lost the market. The market prices witnessed continuous decline. The farmers were bound to sell the oil for Rs 10,000 per litre and later for Rs 5,000 per litre. “In the third year, no traders visited us to buy herbal oil,” said a local farmer Janak Saud. “It led us to give up herbal farming. We could not even recover the investment,” he shared.
The farmers further shared that they had to store the refined oil at home for a year. “Once we reached Nepalgunj, we could not secure a fair price and return empty handed,” said farmer Jaya Bahadur Air.
In his observation, it is all because of failure in market management that processing plants installed at a cost of millions of rupees dilapidated and farmers gave up cultivating medicinal plants.
It might have cost over Rs 70 million to set up a single processing plant, the farmers mentioned.
However, once reliable marketing is revived and fair prices ensured, the farmers in the buffer zone are still hopeful of launching the herbal cultivation again.
