Apple farming in Marpha

The village of Marpha is situated in the Kali Gandaki Valley of the Annapurna Conservation Area at an altitude of 2.650 m. The exact geographical location is 28°45' Northern latitude, 83°42' Eastern longitude. It lies in a very remote region. The next road starts in Beni (2 to 3 days by foot); the next big market is Pokhara (3 to 4 days by foot). Marpha is also accessible by plane; from the small airport in Jomsom (1 hour by foot) it takes only half an hour to Pokhara by plane.

When we first decided to do a project on apple farming in Marpha, we did not know what to expect. Except for what was told to us by Prof. Haffner of our department we could gather only very little information about Marpha and its surroundings. So the idea was to decide on concepts and methods when we had had a chance to get a rough picture of the situation.

Once in Marpha we got the impression that almost every household seemed to be engaged in apple farming to some extent. Also any literature we found in the village library stretched out the economic importance of apple production for the region. Thus we decided to conduct interviews with a small number of sample households participating in apple farming. The teachers of the secondary school of Marpha helped us to select families for the interviews. They chose them according to their financial and social status and the approximate number of apple trees they own.

Once we had worked out a set of questions which seemed on one hand precise enough to provide us with an overview of the farmers' financial situation without on the other hand invading their privacy, we were facing the next severe problem: How to talk to Nepalese families who mostly speak only little English while our Nepali did not reach further than two or three words? Fortunately, one of the teachers, Mr. Shalikram Lamichhne, spent many hours of his spare time translating for us. Without his and many other people's friendly help and advice our work would not have been possible. The families we interviewed were without exception friendly and helpful and answered our questions willingly even though it took them at least half an hour of their free or even working time.

In the following chapters we first specify the objectives of the project and methods used. In the following results part we present after a short history of apple farming in the Marpha region a variety of economical and social aspects connected to apple farming. Finally, sustainability of large scale apple farming is discussed in the conclusion.

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