Tobacco Drying
While visiting Mahadevpatti we immediately noticed the massive amounts of tobacco leaves being dried on almost every rooftop and porch. This was the first village where we saw any kind of tobacco production in Nepal. And to see it in such great quantity shocked us.
The tobacco cultivating process takes about 20 weeks. After the tobacco plants are grown there are harvested and begin a 5-month process of drying, fermentation, de-ribbing and sorting, and then a second fermentation process before being stored.
We learned that tobacco is a rapidly increasing crop of choice for many farmers in the Terai. The reasons for this are that tobacco can be planted in any type of soil and can be planted during the monsoon season. Tobacco does not require nutrient-rich soil. However, tobacco depletes nutrients in the soil faster than nearly all other crops. If tobacco cultivating is taken up by all farmers it could potentially be detrimental to all other crops. The tobacco season would have to be put on hold for 2 years between each crop to allow the soil’s nutrients to be replenished. Tobacco also yields a higher revenue than all other cash crops grown in Nepali.
Most would argue that the increase in revenue and ease of planting would be a great sign for the economy of Nepal. However, the effects of tobacco becoming a major cash crop for Nepal could, in time, destroy the agricultural system and the beautifully rich soil of the Nepali Terai.
About 13% of the Nepali people use tobacco. However, Nepal has one of the lowest percentages of tobacco users in all of Asia and is still decreasing on the scale. The government’s tobacco prevention laws established in 2014 are given credit for this decrease. However, the decrease has been less than 2% in the past 4 years so the actual effectiveness of these laws is unknown.
If the tobacco industry can be controlled and regulated, it could potentially remain beneficial to the nation’s economy. If not, it may take much time before the nation can recover from the destruction this popular crop could bring.
https://tobaccoatlas.org/country/nepal/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/maps-and-graphics/world-according-to-tobacco-consumption/
http://www.itcportal.com/businesses/group-companies/surya-nepal.aspx
https://www.kullabs.com/frontend/public/classes/subjects/units/lessons/notes/note-detail/272