SATV 25 July, Kathmandu: Coffee farming is gaining expansion in Koshi province. Commercial coffee farming has begun in 12 districts of the province. 

Ananta Dhungana, the public information officer at the Regional Office of the National Tea and Coffee Development Board in Birtamod, has informed that coffee plantation has expanded over an area of more than 2,000 hectares in the province. 

According to him, coffee is being cultivated commercially in Ilam, Dhankuta, Bhojpur, Khotang, Sankhuwasabha, Okhaldhunga, Solukhumbu, Tehrathum, Udayapur, Morang, Panchthar, and Taplejung districts. 

He further shared that more than 5,000 farmers are being engaged in coffee cultivation. Currently, 90 to 100 metric tons of coffee beans are being produced in Koshi. Its market value is around Rs 200 million. More than half of the produced coffee is exported abroad. 

Out of a total production of 500 metric tons of coffee in Nepal, Koshi province accounts for 20 percent. The highest coffee production in Koshi province occurs in Ilam. More than 2000 farmers in Ilam have been cultivating coffee in 900 hectares of land. 

Around 50 metric tons of coffee beans are produced here. Coffee cultivation has been expanded to significant areas in districts such as Dhankuta, Morang, and Panchthar. 

According to the board's statistics, it has been expanded to 750 hectares in Dhankuta, 500 hectares in Morang, and 350 hectares in Panchthar district. 

The National Tea and Coffee Development Board has been providing grants of Rs 750,000 to farmers and cooperatives willing to cultivate coffee in 50 ropanis of land, and Rs 350,000 to those producing seedlings in nurseries. 

According to the board, in the last fiscal year 2081/82, coffee cultivation was expanded to 110 hectares in 24 local level governments of Koshi province, for which the board spent a budget of Rs 23.7 million. 

Likewise, for the current fiscal year, the board has allocated a budget of Rs 28.35 million to expand cultivation in 23 local levels. "Koshi Province is a fertile area for coffee cultivation," said Dhungana, the board's information officer. "There is no market problem for selling the produced coffee. 

However, farmers are not sensitized of issues such as processing, quality, packaging, and trade marking, so they are unable to directly take it to the international market, it is stated.