HEAVY SNOWFALL IN HUMLA



Children at Simkot, Humla playing with snow.



Simkot Valley covered with snow.

   

Getting rid of the brokers

What Jumla apples and Kathmandu politics should have in common

 ANIL KESHARY SHAH

An apple farmer in Jumla has to protect his saplings through three harsh winters before they start bearing fruit. When mature, one tree can yield as much as 100kg of apples, and they sell for Rs 15 per kg in the Khalanga Bazar. These are packed into boxes and transported to Kathmandu where the apples sell for Rs 250 per kg.

The solution is not to tell Jumla farmers not to grow apples, but to put into place a price mechanism so that the producer is not cheated, and the consumer gets more apples for the same price. This means finding ways to connect farmers more effectively to market, cutting out or minimising the impact of middlemen, so that the farmers in Jumla get a fair share of the margin.

Similarly, in politics too, 28 million Nepalis who put their faith and aspirations in the hands of our political middlemen have been let down. Thousands of young Nepalis even sacrificed their lives to be part of a revolution and a people's movement to start afresh with a new constitution. Having done so, they went back to their hard lives eking out a living from the harsh land, putting their fate in the hands of those they elected. Four years and billions of rupees later, they are still waiting.

The question here is no longer why did a new constitution not get passed and who is to blame, but are we okay with exercising our valuable democratic right of casting our vote for the same people, parties, and ideologies all over again?

Just because elected leaders were not able to deliver on a new constitution, it doesn't mean that we should start doubting or looking for alternatives to our democratic system of governance. And the solution will also not come from merely finding fault and criticising our political leadership and parties.

Maybe the time has come to decide whether the political brokers on whom we had faith to deliver a better nation have been leading us astray. Like the apple middlemen, politicians have been taking advantage of the Nepali people's trust in them.

But change is happening in Jumla. A group of pioneering entrepreneurs with capital and market linkages in Kathmandu have got together with young farmers in Jumla, bought a large plot of land and started planting apple saplings. By taking the resources and value additions of urban Kathmandu and combining them with local skills and knowledge, the profit-sharing will be fairer. Who knows, maybe apples will also be cheaper in Kathmandu.

If only we could find such a bridge to bring together Nepal's political brokers with the people. But for that to happen, one of two things needs to be in place.

Option One is a realisation among the political forces that they have wronged the people whom they represent. It hasn't sunk into the current leadership that Nepalis are no longer interested in who is going to be the next prime minister, who are going to be ministers, or which parties are going to be in government. Those things make no difference on whether there is food on the plate.

A good starting point is for the leaders individually and collectively apologise to the Nepali people for letting them down. There needs to be an attitudinal change so leaders don't see themselves as "rulers" anymore, but as "servants" of the people. That is the only way they will win back the people's confidence, a prerequisite to facing the electorate in the next polls.

Many of you may be shaking your heads, thinking this will never happen in your lifetime. If so, you have to think of Option Two: the formation of a completely new political force made up of individuals who have excelled in their respective fields, Nepalis who have proven themselves and through their work, earned the trust of the people.

Individuals like you and me who have successful, comfortable lives will need to step out of our cosy cocoons to take on not only the challenges facing our nation, but also the political forces that are wasting time and squandering their mandates. No matter how fragmented they may seem now, when it comes to choosing the next prime minister, you can be sure the politicians will circle the wagons when their power is challenged.

Or there could be a combination of Options One and Two so young forward-looking individuals currently in the political parties, and individuals not currently in mainstream politics come together to forge an alliance.

Just like the apple farmers in Jumla forged a partnership with entrepreneurs from Kathmandu, the time has come to bypass the political middlemen.

………Anil Keshary Shah is a banker and a concerned Nepali citizen.

 

Road to riches

 

Investment in Jumla's organic apples is bringing an old dream to fruition

KATY ELLIOT

Last year apples from Jumla were fetching Rs 70 a kilo in the Tarai. They were low-grade fruit, battered and bruised after being harvested by growers vigorously shaking the trees, then flung unprotected into crates to be flown to Surkhet and roughly transported via potholed roads to Nepalgunj and beyond. In fact, of the 3000 metric tonnes of apples that were grown only 5% was exported out of the region and the rest was dumped as mulch on the land.

This year Jumla's A grade, gleaming organic apples are selling for as much as Rs 350 a kilo to the health-conscious Kathmandu elite willing to pay a premium for organic. Jumla's organic certified apple farmers are now receiving Rs 35 a kilo instead of Rs 10, and this is projected to rise next year.

The region's seven apple varieties represent part of a wider strategy to brand Jumla an 'organic district'. In 2007, the local district council banned the import and use of chemical pesticides and fertilisers. All produce from the region is by default organic because the farmers have no access to and can rarely afford to use chemicals. The Jumla apples are the country's first fruit to be certified (by independent company Organic Certification Nepal) under the government's new guidelines.

The construction of the Karnali road between Jumla and Surkhet, which partially opened in 2007, is still incomplete but farmers are hopeful it will be completed within two to four years. This would give them a cheaper and greener route to market (Kathmandu is 600 km away). In anticipation some 10,000 households in the district now have apple orchards with 300 apple growers already certified organic.

For now the road is still impassable during the monsoon and the apples are being flown to Surkhet well packaged and protected, then transported by road for the final 400 potholed kilometres to the capital to ensure they are in the shops in the run-up to Dasain.

The District Agriculture Development Office in Jumla is collaborating with the Jumla Chamber of Commerce and Dutch NGO SNV, and has received funding from agencies such as the International Fund for Agricultural Development and World Vision to train more than 300 farmers this year.

"The farmers' level of knowledge, especially regarding harvesting and packaging, was very low," says Bhairab Kaini, horticulturalist at the Nepal Horticultural Promotion Centre. "They were harvesting very traditionally and roughly by shaking the trees till the fruit fell."

The fledgling organic apple industry marks a steep learning curve for farmers. But SNV Value Chain Advisor Rik van Keulen is positive about their investment. "Word has spread about Jumla apples. The whole mid and far west above 2000m is very suitable for apple growing. To change to organic in areas where chemicals are already being used is tough. But areas like Jumla and Dolpa, where we've heard the apple quality is even higher, are by default organic."

Apples were first introduced to the region in the late 1960s by the visiting monarch, who brought them as a gift from Kashmir. But the promised road was never completed and any early hopes for a market stagnated for 40 years. This year, the organic mantra may help Jumla farmers unleash their full potential.

Jumla apples are now available in Kathmandu at Bhat Bhateni, Navadurga Department Store, Kastamandap Bajaar and Saleways.

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Apple trouble

The harvest of Jomsom apples is down a whopping 60 per cent this year because of the late monsoon, poor roads and an apple disease that's blighted orchards in several Village Development Committees.

Apples thrive in dry climates, but conditions in the far west have been unusually dry this year. "This is all due to global warming. It has been particularly bad in high altitude places like Mustang, where that hasn't been snow this year," says CR Gurung, Chief of Citrus Development Program in Kirtipur.

Orchards in other popular apple-producing districts like Mustang, Manang, Jumla and Dolpa have also been hit hard by the dry spell. As a result, apples have ripened earlier than usual. They usually hit the market in late September or early October.

Harvesters have had trouble ferrying apples to major markets because the Jomson-Beni highway has fallen into disrepair. They have also had to grapple with apple scab, which causes dark, scab-like lesions to appear on tree leaves and significantly reduces yield.

Like apples from other parts of the country, Jomsom apples are grown almost totally organically, although chemicals are sometimes used to treat diseases like apple scab. Many world-famous varieties of apple are grown in Jomsom. They were imported by American NGOs and the Indian government, which has contributed enormously to apple development in the region.

Despite the troubles, Jomsom apples really stand out for their taste. "The apples are very juicy," says Gurung.

Suvayu Dev Pant

.......TAKEN FROM NEPALI TIMES.COM