Barpak Sulikot Rural Municipality will brand its coffee.
In an event organized on Monday, Bishnu Bhatta, chair of Barpak Sulikot Rural Municipality, informed about a multilateral agreement among several farmer organizations in the rural municipality, Fresco Himalayan, UN Nepal Gorkha, and coffee farming groups was made in the rural municipality to commit to coffee farming.
As per the agreement, Fresco Himalayan must purchase all the quality coffee produced by the farmers based on the price set by the National Tea and Coffee Development Board and the prevailing market price, pay the farmers through the bank within 15 days of purchase, manage the necessary transportation, and branding.
Similarly, the agreement also mentioned that compensation should be given to the farmers if the produce of the farmers is wasted without packaging and purchasing on time.
Likewise, the farmer groups must sell all the quality coffee they produce to Fresco Himalaya and cannot sell the produced coffee to other parties or themselves in the market without the written permission of Fresco Himalaya.
Unification Nepal Gorkha, a social organization, will provide financial and technical support and take initiatives for additional resources, while the Rural Municipality will provide coffee planting support, technical support, management of other resources, and monitoring and facilitating the purchase and sale between Fresco Himalaya and farmers.
Bishnu Bhatta, chairperson of the Rural Municipality, said that the national and international market of coffee is good and the actual farmers can be encouraged to work with subsidies and support based on the results.
Devkota, who is also the executive director of UN Nepal Gorkha, said that any work can be successful with the investment and partnership of all concerned parties. “Working together with rural municipalities, private companies, non-governmental organizations, and farmers’ groups will bring results quickly.”
Devendra Pokharel, Managing Director of Fresco Himalaya, said that he is optimistic that coffee can be marketed and it demand in Europe and America is good. He further expected the initiative to be a success.
Thakur Devkota, President of Hudikhola Farmers’ Group, said that the program has ensured farmers’ markets.
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