Gandaki. Kaviraj Khanal, owner of Om Agriculture Farm, has sold siplican saplings worth Rs 450,000 this year alone. This plant, especially found in the hilly areas, has been disappearing from most parts of the country, but Khanal has earned an income by cultivating it commercially for the last five years.
Since time immemorial, sages like Chyawan and Garg have used this plant for purification of the body as well as for stability and longevity in meditation. Khanal said that along with the conservation of this endangered plant, commercial farming has been started with the intention of using it for generations.
Rupa, Madi, Machhapuchchhre, Annapurna rural municipality of Kaski and Shuklagandaki, Bhimad, Bandipur and Devghat areas of Tanahun are suitable for siplican cultivation.
Khanal said he has been pursuing this farming for the last five days after the COVID-19 pandemic. “It has been more than five years since i started commercial farming. Good production is scary. This year alone, 450,000 saplings have been sold,” he said, adding that saplings have reached different parts of the country including Rupa rural municipality of Kaski. The demand has not been met. ’
Khanal said that although 10,000 saplings were produced in the nursery this year alone, they have not been able to produce them as per the demand. He said that the saplings are provided free of cost in some places including the neighbors and friends. Siplican is being sold between Rs 100 and Rs 150 per sapling. In recent years, its demand has been increasing tremendously. “Along with the environmental balance, this plant is also healthy. Its importance needs to be publicized as well as preserved and expanded. For this, the state should also cooperate and cooperate,” Khanal said.
Siplican is used as a medicine for diseases such as high blood pressure, sugar, jaundice and kidney stones. It can also be eaten by making vegetables and pickles for the time being and by making gundruk for a long time.
Khanal has also been cultivating crisps along with siplican in his farm. The products are being sold from Shuklagandaki Municipality-1 and 2 as well as Pokhara Municipality-32. According to him, 20,000 to 25,000 saplings are being sold annually from his farm. Useful for health, bitter gourd is used more as a vegetable. Khanal said that kurillo contains plenty of protein, vitamins, fiber, calcium and various other nutrients and is useful for everyone from children to the elderly.
In the recent past, Khanal has been informing anyone who comes to the farm or wants to understand about the techniques, utility and marketing of farming including kurilo, siplican. His farm is becoming like a living school. Khanal, who has pursued journalism and teaching profession simultaneously along with professional agriculture, has also been working as a correspondent for Radio Nepal and Adarsha Samaj National Dailies.
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