Cardamom trial succeeds in Myagdi's Musung, commercial farming expands

After a trial cultivation of cardamom succeeded in Musung village, Beni Municipality-3 of Myagdi, commercial farming of the crop has begun expanding there.

The trial farming, started three years ago, is now yielding good produce. Ward chair Padam Pun said that after cardamom planted inside the moist Utis forest of Charkhola began bearing fruit, other farmers also came forward to expand the farming.

He said that seeing suitable weather, geography, market access and fair prices, farmers cleared bushes on fallow, moist land and planted cardamom on more than 20 ropanis. The area had been covered in bushes after a landslide swept away cultivable land there 50 years ago.

Cardamom, known as 'black gold', has mainly been grown in the hill districts of eastern Nepal's Koshi Province. Agricultural technicians say moist areas at altitudes of 800 to 1,800 meters above sea level are suitable for this crop, and areas receiving annual rainfall of 2,000 to 2,500 millimeters are considered ideal for cardamom.