Assessment of Allo Production and Enterprise Potential in Parbat District District Forest Office Asia Network for Sustainable Kushma, Parbat Agriculture and Bioresources Assessment of Allo Production and Enterprise Potential in Parbat District June, 2010 District Forest Office Asia Network for Sustainable Kushma, Parbat Agriculture and Bioresources ii ASSESSMENT OF ALLO PRODUCTION AND ENTERPRISE POTENTIAL IN PARBAT DISTRICT © ANSAB, 2010 Citation: ANSAB. 2010. Development and Mobilization of Local Resource Persons (LRPs). Asia Network for Sustainable Agriculture and Bioresources. Kathmandu, Nepal. All rights reserved. Reproduction and Dissemination of information in this toolkit for educational, research or other non-commercial purposes are authorized without any prior written permission from ANSAB provided the source is fully acknowledged. The reproduction of the information from this toolkit for any commercial purposes is prohibited without written permission from ANSAB. ISBN: 978-9937-8360-0-5 First edition: 2010 Printed in Nepal ASSESSMENT OF ALLO PRODUCTION AND iii ENTERPRISE POTENTIAL IN PARBAT DISTRICT Acknowledgements One of the major challenges often Mr. Nabaraj Panta and Mr. Sushil Gyawali encountered by forestry entrepreneurs and from the same organization were also planners is the lack of reliable information significant in designing the assessment and on forest products supply potential. Such preparing this report. I greatly appreciated information is notably almost non-existent the support provided by Mr. Kiran Paudel, for Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs). MEDEP (APSO Baglung) during the process In this context, it is our pleasure to present of concept design and planning. Similarly, you an “Assessment of Allo Production Mr. Chandika Amgain of ANSAB and Haris and Enterprise Potential in Parbat District”, Chandra Sapkota and Dayanidhi Aryal of which not only provide information on Parbat District Forest Office actively took part this resource’s supply potential but also in the organization of a community mapping analyses related enterprise opportunities workshop in Kushma that was essential to in the district. This report will be very the realization of this assessment. My sincere helpful to entrepreneurs and program thanks go to other DFO staff as well as to managers already engaged in Allo collecting Ganesh Adhikari and Kopila Purja (SEEWA- and processing or thinking about getting Parbat) who supported data collection involved in the business. We hope it will in the field. Most importantly, I thank all help to manage resource sustainably and to community members and respondents for generate new wealth for many communities. their invaluable support and for sharing The assessment reveals that the full their knowledge and experience with us. utilization of the Allo available in the district I am grateful to ANSAB for the technical could generate direct incomes of about and financial support provided to this NRs. 8,416,454. The potential benefits are publication. Similarly, I thank MEDEP/ even greater if we also count employment SEEWA for providing partial funding for generated by associated activities. the assessment. I am sincerely thankful to Mr. Gopal Prasad Sharma from ANSAB who coordinated every aspect of this project, including logistical (Bodh Raj Subedi) arrangements, data collection, analysis DFO, Parbat and report preparation. Contributions of June 2010 iv ASSESSMENT OF ALLO PRODUCTION AND ENTERPRISE POTENTIAL IN PARBAT DISTRICT Contents CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 4 General background 4 Introduction of Allo 4 Mapping area 6 Objectives 7 CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY 8 Preparation 8 Defining geographical sub-units 8 Community mapping workshop 8 Mapping potential area (location): 10 Orientation training for field measurement and verification 10 Collection of data 10 Tools and software 11 Limitation 11 CHAPTER THREE: FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION 12 Potential area and distribution of Allo in the district 12 Conversion ratio 14 Density 14 Estimated volume of production: 14 Enterprise opportunities 18 CHAPTER FOUR: REFERENCES 21 LIST OF TABLES LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF ANNEXES ASSESSMENT OF ALLO PRODUCTION AND v ENTERPRISE POTENTIAL IN PARBAT DISTRICT Summary Non Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) are of Geographic Information System (GIS) important regenerative forest products that participatory community mapping and field have traditionally been extracted by rural poor inventory. GIS community mapping is based for their high economic value. The sustainable on the assumption that local people are the collection and processing of these products best experts about the prevalence of natural is considered a promising avenue for both resources because of their intricate knowledge income generations by rural communities of the area where they live and because they and biodiversity conservation. NTFP-related traditionally relied on these resources for enterprises are especially important in the their livelihood. Maps of Allo occurrence Mid Hills and High Mountain of Nepal where were thus first produced with the help of the a large quantity of NTFPs are collected and local communities, before being validated traded in national and international markets with complementary methodologies such as every year. cross-checking with forest cover maps and contour lines and the conduction of a stratified The Parbat district does not host many systematic sampling at an intensity of 0.4%. enterprises in the NTFPs sector so far because of its small geographical size and the low The assessment reveals that Parbat district has density of NTFPs in its forests. There are moderate potential for Allo enterprises, the nonetheless interesting opportunities for resource being found in sufficient quantity in enterprises development in, among others, 2,049 hectare of forest. In a nutshell, the district Lokta paper making, Allo threading and has a total estimated production capacity of cloth weaving, essential oil production and 8,588 kilogram of dry Allo bark per year. This furniture production. The local District Forest could generate 25,192 man/days of work, Office (DFO) is committed to support this with 29 people employed in bark collection type of enterprises with the vital support of for 2 months every year and about 98 people facilitating organizations such as ANSAB, employed in processing (fiber making, thread LFP, and MEDEP. making, cloth weaving, etc.) for 8 months every year. Altogether this opportunity could The present assessment focus exclusively on provide business benefits of NRs. 8,416,454 to Allo and was conducted using a combination local communities. vi ASSESSMENT OF ALLO PRODUCTION AND ENTERPRISE POTENTIAL IN PARBAT DISTRICT ASSESSMENT OF ALLO PRODUCTION AND 1 ENTERPRISE POTENTIAL IN PARBAT DISTRICT CHAPTER ONE Introduction • Nepali name: Allo, Chalne sisno GENERAL BACKGROUND Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) have • Other names: Puwa, Thulo sisno, been used by Nepal’s rural communities Lekali sisno, Bhangre sisno, since ancient times and are currently the BhAllo, etc. major source of income in the mountainous • Family: Urticaceae and Himalayan regions of the country. Due to its diversified ecology and geography, Botany, habitat and distribution Nepal is indeed blessed with an important Allo (Girardinia diversifolia) is found number of different species and a high level abundantly in open forest land and of availability. The sustainable management river side of moist habitat in Nepal. It of NTFPs is thus crucial both for biodiversity grows naturally from east to west within conservation and for income generation in elevations of 1,200m to 3,000m. It is a poor communities. shade bearing, tall, stout and erect herb growing up to 3m height with perennial Various government institutions, NGO, roots stock. The aerial parts are armed INGOs and CBOs are involved in the with numerous slender stinging hairs and establishment of Allo enterprises in Parbat the leaves are deeply lobed saw-toothed district, and a few existing enterprises are with bristles and have stinging hairs. Allo already involved in thread making, cloth has both male and female flowers in the weaving and other related activities. This same plant. The plant is found on clump assessment was launched to study and and each clump has many stem. The stem understand the actual potential to develop bark contains fibers of unique quality more of such enterprises throughout the which is strong, smooth and light. district. Uses Tender buds, leaves, bark and roots of 1.2 INTRODUCTION TO ALLO • Scientific name: Girardinia diversifolia Allo are used for various purposes. The (Link) Friis bark is used for making clothes, ropes and • English name: Himalayan nettle, domestic implements while tender shoots Giant nettle and buds are used as vegetable. Leaf 2 ASSESSMENT OF ALLO PRODUCTION AND ENTERPRISE POTENTIAL IN PARBAT DISTRICT for curing headache, body pain, fever, The collection of Allo bark is however tuberculosis, and urinary complaints, generally naturally sustainable as it only while root juice is beneficial for diabetics. requisite the harvesting of the aerial Use as fodder is also common. part of plant, leaving the roots free to regenerate. Propagation Allo can be propagated from seed, root Processing methodology sucker and vegetative part. Allo is a fiber yielding plant, meaning that its inner bark is used for the production of From seed: The seed of Allo is very small, fiber. Allo is locally processed and made a gram containing about 550 specimens. into thread, which was traditionally