Last month our NGO partners in Nawalparasi, HICODEF, organised a field trip for farmers in involved in our ‘Layer Farming for Adaptation’ project. These farmers are learning how to grow and - as importantly - process, market and sell coffee as a sustainable development and climate change adaptation strategy.
Farmers visit the High Mountain Arabica Coffee Company, Kathmandu
Understanding the journey coffee goes on once it has left the field is vital to this learning process, so HICODEF took nine farmers on an exposure visit to Kathmandu. Over three days they visited the High Mountain Arabica Coffee Company, the Lekhali Coffee Production Cooperative, and the Coffee Garden of Mitharam Kattee.
Visit to the Coffee Garden of Mitharam Kattee
The exposure visit provided farmers with an opportunity to learn first hand about commercial coffee growing, pulping, processing and roasting. They also had the chance to meet men and women who work in the coffee sector full time and ask for their advice on how to make coffee a viable crop for their farms back in Nawalparasi.
Most crucially this was an opportunity to make links with traders who will purchase the coffee parchment the project participants are producing.
Farmers observe the parchment preparation process at Lekhali Coffee Production Cooperative
17 farmers involved in the Layer Farming for Adaptation project are now producing coffee. Between them, at the latest harvest, they have sold 76.5KG of coffee parchment. 54.5KG have been sold to the coffee companies in Kathmandu that HICODEF have created links to, the remaining 22KG were sold locally to passing traders.
The coffee price varies, depending on where it is sold, locally farmers can get Rs.400 / KG, but in Kathmandu they can get Rs. 500 / KG, which is why links to the Kathmandu market are so important.
Farmers inspect coffee pulping equipment at Lekhali Coffee Production Cooperative
You can find more detail on the field trip in the latest progress report sent to us by HICODEF. It is on our projects report page, but you can download it here as a PDF. The report also covers:
Coffee Nursery training;
Coffee plantation monitoring;
Orientation and placement of ‘on-the-job’ student apprentices;
Collection and sale of coffee parchment;
Polytunnel farming;
Vegetable seed distribution;
Broom Grass Cultivation.