JHAPA, JANUARY 30
Stakeholders have expressed their commitment to take necessary initiative to export cardamom to third countries.
The government and private sector expressed commitment to take necessary steps to promote the export of the cash crop after farmers and entrepreneurs expressed worries regarding the decreasing price of cardamom in the country and in India at an interaction organised in Birtamod yesterday.
The government and private sector were compelled to search for an alternative international market as farmers had been forced to export cardamom at the price fixed by Indian entrepreneurs. The stakeholders said that cardamom farming would vanish if the alternative markets were not searched for the export.
Federation of Large Cardamom Entrepreneurs of Nepal Chairman Raj Kumar Karki and Senior Vice-chairman Chandra Prasad Dhakal, among others, said that the federation would take initiative to find alternative international markets. Karki said that the government had to show eagerness to promote cardamom in the international market. "The federation will advise the government on the same," he added. The federation's founder Chairman Rajendra Kumar Ghimire said that the government did not work to promote cardamom and encourage cardamom farmers.
Deputy Secretary of Chamber of Commerce and Supply Ministry Durga Bhusal said that additional planning for promotion of the cardamom sector would be forwarded on behalf of the government. He informed that the government would take initiative to search for market in third countries.
Vice-chairman Anjan Shrestha, the federation's export committee President Manish Lal Pradhan and central member Umesh Kadar, and Province 1 Chairman Tikaraj Dhakal said that businesses had been shattered due to COVID-19. They said that the government had to bring policy and planning that would help entrepreneurs.
A version of this article appears in the print on January 31, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
