Buckwheat farming in Nepal

Introduction

Buckwheat (Fapar in Nepali), is the main source of food in High mountain area of Nepal. Nature has nourished buckwheat so that it has many medical advantage above other crops. Buckwheat is the staple food crop of the people living in the hills and mountains in Nepal. It is successfully cultivated from fertile Terai (61 meter) in the south of Nepal to the rugged mountains in the north (3000 meter from the sea level). Buckwheat is an annual herbaceous plant and is ready to harvest within 90-100 days of seeding. The seeds are small and have various shapes and size. Generally, the buckwheat grain produced in the mountains are larger than those produced in the Terai.

Species of buckwheat

There are mainly two species of buckwheat cultivated in Nepal-sweet buckwheat or Mithe Fapar (Fagopyrum esculentum) and tartary buckwheat or Bitter Fapar (Fagopyrum tataricum). The bitter buckwheat has high yield, cold tolerance and is grown mainly in the high hills and mountains in small areas for medicinal purposes.

Cultivation of buckwheat in Nepal

All the buckwheat cultivated in Nepal are the local landraces and the improved cultivar has not yet been commercially grown by the farmers. There are mainly three local landraces, which are as follows: 　 - Mountain landraces or mountain cultivars, which are grown from 2500 to 3000 meter altitude. Jumla, Dolpa, Baitadi, Humla, Manang, Mustang, etc. are the districts where mountain local cultivars are grown. 　 - Mid to high hills local cultivars are cultivated from 1500 to 2200 meter altitude. Kaski, Parbat, Myagdi, Gorkha, Lamjung, etc. are the mid-hill districts where the mid-hill local cultivars are grown.

- Terai local cultivars are cultivated from 61 to 450 meter altitude. In fact, these cultivars were introduced to Terai by mid-hill people. 　

Growing season

Buckwheat in different ecological regions is grown in different seasons due to existence of different climate. The growing seasons in each region are as follows:

- Mountain region (above 2400 meter elevation): It is a autumn crop in this region and seeds are sown from Baishak to Asadh (April to June) and are harvested from Bhadra to Kartik (September to October). 　 - Mid to high hill region (1500-2300 meter altitude): It is also a autumn crop. However, the seeds are sown from Asadh to mid Shravan (June to mid July) and crops are harvested from Kartik to Mansir (November).

- Terai region (61-450 meter altitude). It is a winter crop in this region. The seeds are sown in November and crops are harvested in January –February.

Uses of buckwheat

The bitter buckwheat produced mainly in the high hills and mountain (2000-3000 meter elevation) are used for medicinal purposes. Fresh leaves, dry leaves, buckwheat flour etc. are consumed by diabetic and heart patient as reported by the farmers. There are other diseases, which are improved by consumption and use of bitter buckwheat. 　 The Mithe Faper or sweet buckwheat is mainly utilized as food apart from its medicinal value in the high hills and mountain. The recipes made from buckwheat by hill people are as follows: 　 · Roti (Thick bread) from flour　 · Chapade (Thick bread) from flour · Pancakes (Thin small bread) from flour · Dhido (Thick porridge) from flour · Beverage like Nigar, Jad, Lager from grains and flour · Dry buckwheat leaves made into dust and is used as dal or soup. · Green leaves are sued as green vegetable, curry, soup or salad · Dry plants after seed extraction are used as animal feed. 　 In brief the buckwheat in Nepal is used as 　 · Staple food · Vegetable · Dal or soup · Animal feed · Beverage · Income generation · Medicine

Buckwheat grain availability in Nepal

· Asoj - Kartik (November – December) from mountain and high hill areas. · Mansir – Poush (December – January) from mid-hill areas. · Magh – Falgun (January – February) from Terai areas. 　

Uniqueness of Nepali buckwheat

· It is grown by small and poor women farmers mainly in the hills. 　 · Chemical fertilizer, irrigation, pesticides, fungicides, etc. are not applied at all. So buckwheat produced in Nepal is absolutely organic.

· Seed sowing, harvesting, threasing, seed cleaning, grading, drying, etc. are carried out by local bamboo and wooden tools and by local women farmers. Grading, processing, etc. is done by women farmers. Hence, buckwheat produced in Nepal is from the use of local indigenous resources and is free from use of imported machines, tools and equipments.

· The buckwheat grain is not treated by chemicals for protection from stored pests after the extraction of seed.

· The buckwheat grains are not polished by machines and are marketed as clean grains in raw and natural form.

· Buckwheat produced in the mountains and hills are large, aromatic and have high specific gravity i.e. recovery rate is high or individual grains are weighty than those produced in Terai of Nepal or tropical and sub-tropical climatic zones or countries of the world.

· Buckwheat yield per hectare in Nepal is lowest (800 kg per hectare) in the world because of the following reasons:

- Application of chemical fertilizer, pesticides, fungicides, etc. is avoided because these inputs are essential for increasing yield. - Crop is grown relatively in marginal and poor soil. - Irrigation is not used. The crop is grown on rainfed or residual soil moisture of monsoon rain. - The cultivars used are all local landraces, who are poor yielder but produce quality grains.

· The areas under this crop is not increasing, rather, it is decreasing trend due to low yield compared to wheat, barley, oat, mustard and also poor market price and poor cash income to farmers.

· Increasing attractive market price will be helpful for increasing areas under this crop, production and productivity. This mechanism will contribute for increasing cash income of small and poor farmers of the hills.

Source: [http://www.nepalrhd.com/buckwheat/indexb… ]