Ginger: A Medicine to One’s Health and Pocket
By Regeena Regmi
Nepal is among the top five Ginger exporting countries in the world with production of approx. 279K Metric Tonnes per year. This status is achieved despite many constraints including rhizome rot disease, traditional drying techniques (over fire), lack of facilities to wash/process and further add value (diversification) to the product. This limits the bargaining ability of the farmers and majority of the product is sold underpriced to a middleman who export it to India securing bigger profits. Regardless, an immense potential (still) stays for increased income and reducing hunger and poverty via the cultivation of Ginger.
As a pilot, Heifer International has supported Galda Social Entrepreneur’s Women Cooperative in Palpa to assist in production, promotion, processing, and value addition of Ginger. Palpa is geographically suited for quality ginger, but the farmers have had a bitter experience in the past. Up until a decade ago, farmers fetched a high value for the crop (up to $3/kg) but all failed when India drastically reduced its import from Nepal. Today the value stays approx. 30 cents/kg.
Today farmers such as Lil Kumari Pachbaiya are going back to what their fathers did with assistance from Heifer. She says “It is a medicinal plant, to one’s health and to one’s pockets too. I hope to make a good income from ginger in the days to come.” 320 cooperative member families have collectively planted Ginger in over 406,984 sq. m of land and are keeping a farmer’s diary for data keeping to receive the Internal Control System or Organic Certification (group) for their produce.
Heifer is playing a key role in supplying technical knowledge, infrastructural setup, marketing/branding, and the leveraging of local resources. In its second year of operation the cooperative has already collectively marketed 63,000+ kgs (about 138,891.06 lb) of ginger, which is 10 times the previous year’s. Marketing through the cooperative, the farmers have received better rates for their crops. Farmer Khem Bahadur Pachbaiya says “We are so happy that Heifer is helping our cooperative to build the necessary infrastructures. I am sure with the new set up we will be able to make more profits from our produce in the days to come.” The Cooperative has a total turnover of US$ 29,038 from the ginger business and has generated US$ 3630 net profit.
With Heifers support, a climate smart processing center is in its completion phase. As opposed to the traditional practice of drying ginger over fire, farmers are now using a solar dryer which not only is emission free but also significantly reduces labor and fire hazards. The farmers have also shown remarkable improvement in the packaging of the products in fresh form as well as sliced and powdered form. The cooperative is looking forward to diversifying their products even more and increasing the living income of the associated farmers. Cooperative Manager, Dil Maya Saru said “We need training and support for making more products with ginger such as marmalade, ale, candy, pickle and shampoo, only truly then can we make our enterprise more prosperous.”
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