Commercial coffee farming expands in Kavrepalanchok

Kavrepalanchok district has become the leading district in the country in both coffee cultivation area and production. According to the National Tea and Coffee Development Board, coffee has been planted on about 497 hectares in Kavrepalanchok, and processed green bean production has reached about 121 metric tonnes.

According to the board, coffee is being cultivated on nearly 5,500 hectares across the country, with green bean production at about 642 metric tonnes. Coffee farming has now spread to more than 43 hill districts.

Coffee cultivation has reached all wards of Mahabharat Rural Municipality in the district. According to the rural municipality, about 220 metric tonnes of raw coffee cherries are produced there annually. Chairperson Kanchhalal Jimba said that since fiscal year 2077/78, more than 5.5 lakh improved coffee seedlings have been distributed to farmers.

Under the campaign 'Whoever plants a coffee bush gets a twenty-rupee note', cooperatives have provided an incentive of Rs 20 per bush, based on counting live plants.

Farmer Shankhalal Thokar, who has planted coffee on 19 ropani of land in Mahabharat, said the garden annually produces about 2,000 kilograms of coffee. Another farmer, Krishna Bahadur Moktan, produces about 500 kilograms of coffee a year, and said processing, marketing and price assurance need to be strengthened.