सिंहदरबार संवाददाता
Gandaki. The saying ‘Green forest is the wealth of Nepal’, which has been said since ancient times, has been further realized by the users of a community forest here. The community forest group in Annapurna Rural Municipality-3 Laxmi Deurali of Kaski district has confirmed that the green forest is the wealth of Nepal by generating additional income from Lapsi.
The community forest has become an example for everyone that not only forest products such as wood, grass, firewood, and herbs can be generated from the community forest area, but also from the sale of various dishes produced by making good use of Lapsi fruit.
The Forestry and Forestry Department has been generating an annual income of more than 150,000 rupees by processing the fruits of the lopsi produced in the forest and surrounding areas into pickles, pickles, sour and sweet candies and powders and selling them in the market, informed Tikaram Poudel, Chairman of the Community Forest Consumers Group.
Stating that about four decades ago in 2042 BS, 200 lopsi seedlings were planted with the financial support of the then District Forest Office due to the activism of consumers, he said, “Although the lopsi seeds were sold as soon as they started bearing fruit, the group has been producing and selling various dishes for the past 10 years.” According to Chairman Poudel, it goes without saying that the produced lopsi dishes are not sold, but are sold from the group’s office. In countries where most Nepalis have gone abroad for employment, the Forestry and Forestry Department has been providing lopsi pickles from the community forest as a souvenir.
With the support of the Community Forest Users Federation Kaski Green Forest Program, four different types of lapsi have been started to be made with the help of skills, knowledge and technology, he said, “As the taste of lentils, rice and vegetables in food is incomplete without pickles, the importance of pickles is increasing in Nepali society.”
Lapsi should be harvested between the months of Poush and Falgun, and then the black mold on the peel is washed off by washing the fruit brought to the group building for three stages to remove the black mold on the peel. After the cleaned lapsi is cooked and the seeds are cracked, the seeds, peel and pulp are separated. The seeds and pulp are mixed with various ingredients such as oil, fenugreek, jwano, turmeric, asafoetida, jimmu, mugrelo, as required, salt and sugar are mixed and kept in a container. The group claims that the pickled lapsi prepared in this way is beneficial for human health as well as its taste.
This year, 114 consumers from the group participated in everything from picking lapsi to making pickles and other dishes. He said that the income is deducted from the accounts of some groups and the rest is distributed to consumers participating in the production of lapsi dishes by Damasahi.
After the hailstorm in the month of Jestha destroyed all the lapsi fruits growing in the forest, this year there was not much lapsi production in the forest, so they purchased it from trees on private land at the rate of 50 per kg, said Chudamani Poudel, treasurer of the Forest Consumers Group. The lapsi pickle industry has been registered with the District Cottage Industries Office. “This year, we have purchased 555 kg of lopsi fruits, and have produced 294 kg of pickles, 47.5 kg of candy and 19 kg of lopsi peel powder,” he said. “We have been selling pickles at Rs 350 per kg, candy at Rs 400 and powder at Rs 450 per kg. This year, we aim to earn Rs 1.5 lakh.”
Farmers are attracted to this because the multi-purpose lopsi fruit can be used as firewood and timber and does not cause much damage even to monkeys.
It is best to process the fruit within a week of picking. The product can be used for up to a year. With the support of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Green Forest Office, three thousand lopsi seedlings planted in this area five years ago have reached the stage of bearing fruit. The group believes that the fruits of the improved variety of seedlings will be easy to pick and that they will earn more than one million rupees annually from the sale of pickles alone.
The group has been equipped with the necessary physical infrastructure and modern processing equipment for making lopsi dishes with the financial support of millions of rupees from the Government of Nepal and various organizations, Treasurer Poudel said, “This year, a budget of three hundred thousand rupees has been allocated from the Division Forest Office, Kaski for the purchase of materials. There is a plan to add solar panels to dry lopsi bark from this amount.”
Foresters from various districts come to observe the study of community forests. A group is charged one thousand rupees as an entry fee. Stating that the group has earned nine thousand in this fiscal year, he said that sales are good as consumers from the forest group coming from the Terai prefer the dish of Lapsi. The product is packed in one and a half kg. The group has established a revolving fund of more than four hundred thousand rupees from the income and has been supporting goat farming, off-season vegetable farming, poultry farming, buffalo farming and business with the main goal of connecting consumers from the poor class with income. The amount of the revolving fund has also been increasing continuously.
According to Muktiram Poudel, a member of the group, if there is a cold storage, Lapsi pickles can be produced and sent to the market for twelve months. The Lapsi produced in this area will also help in creating green employment opportunities by manufacturing various products. Lapsi is found in 29 different hilly districts of the country. Lapsi is also a useful plant for wood, firewood, grass and fruit. Full of medicinal properties, it contains more than 21 elements necessary for a healthy body, according to doctors. They say that Lapsi contains enough vitamins and minerals and strengthens human bones.
Due to the failure of the government to create an environment for utilizing natural resources with abundant potential, forest products worth billions of rupees are being destroyed by rotting and burning, said Kalidas Subedi, Chairman of the Community Forest Users’ Federation, Gandaki Province. Stating that the country’s prosperity lies in the forest-based industry, he expressed his belief that it can create self-employment and replace the import of foreign wood and wood-based materials. He said that there is a need for policy and financial support from the government level to make such group enterprises self-reliant.
The Kaski Hario Van Program of the Community Forest Users Federation had provided cash assistance including solar drying of lopsi bark, leveling machines, lopsi harvesting tools, etc. The group has also been conducting awareness programs to reduce forest fires. With the increasing demand for lopsi pickles abroad, it is believed that its cultivation will be economically beneficial for Nepal. This forest group, which has become excellent in terms of forest conservation, promotion and development, has been honored by the Government of Nepal with the Ganeshman Singh Forest Environment National Award and the best in the district.
The community forest located on the Pokhara-Baglung highway has shrubs such as Katus, Chilaune, and Tiju. Spread over an area of 16 hectares, located at an altitude of about 1,500 meters in the northwest of Kaski, 169 households are affiliated to the community forest user group. If the governments of all three levels support the establishment and operation of forest product-based industries for consumers who have made significant contributions to conservation, promotion, and operation, it can become the basis for the prosperity of the country along with job creation, experts in this field are of the collective opinion.
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