Ilam farmers keen to invest in cash crops

Farmers in Ilam have been increasing investments in cash crops in a bid to increase their incomes. They have been putting money individually and in groups in tea processing, kiwi cultivation and vegetable farming, among others. Farmers started putting more money in cash crops after the Commercial Agriculture Alliance (CAA) under the Commercial Agricultural Development Project started providing subsidies to farmers in 11 districts of the Eastern Region. In order to increase the value addition of agro products, 18 different projects are being operated with an investment of around Rs 38.17 million. Locals have invested Rs 23.34 million while the CAA put up the rest, according to Durga Mani Neupane of the CAA. There are seven cooperatives, six processing centres, one farmers’ group, two tea gardens and two business firms under the project. Among the projects in operation are 13 related to tea, two related to commercial vegetable farming, modern bee keeping, kiwi nursery, commercial ginger farming and commercial turmeric farming. Investment in agriculture has been increasing due to the possibility of higher income through agricultural production and farmer’s inclination towards modern agricultural practices. “Farmers are keen to invest in projects as they are being operated as per their demand,” said Rana Bahadur Gurung of Eco Tea Producers Cooperative. Since the farmers have made investments too, there is transparency and effective implementation of the projects, according to Ananta Rai of the CAA. “Farmers have been able to get various utilities at cheaper prices because of their association with the project,” said Rai. There are six projects related to infrastructure development operated with the joint investment of the village development committee and local people. Two tea and vegetable collection centres, four road improvement projects and a nursery of large cardamom sapling are being operated. “Also, a tea factory is being constructed with an investment of Rs 2.9 million,” said Padam Tamang, secretary of the Tea Farmer Cooperative in Fakfok, Tinjure.

Nasa rover touches down on Mars

The US space agency has just landed a huge new robot rover on Mars. The one-tonne vehicle, known as Curiosity, touched down at 06:32 BST (05:32 GMT) in a deep crater near the planet's equator after a plunging through the atmosphere. It is going to look for evidence that Mars could once have supported life. A signal confirming the rover was on the ground safely was relayed to Earth via Nasa's Odyssey satellite, which is in orbit around the Red Planet. The success was greeted with a roar of approval here at mission control at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The mission has even already sent its first low-resolution images - showing the rover's wheel and its shadow, through a dust-covered lens cap that has yet to be removed. A first colour image of Curiosity's surroundings should be returned in the next couple of days. Engineers and scientists who have worked on this project for the best part of 10 years punched the air and hugged each other. The descent through the atmosphere after a 570-million-km journey from Earth had been billed as the "seven minutes of terror" - the time it would take to complete a series of high-risk manoeuvres that would slow the rover from an entry speed of 20,000km/h to allow its wheels to set down softly. After the landing, the flight director reported that Curiosity had hit the surface of Mars at a gentle 0.6 metres per second. "We're on Mars again, and it's absolutely incredible," said Nasa administrator Charles Bolden. "It doesn't get any better than this." The mission team will now spend the next few hours assessing the health of the vehicle (also referred to as the Mars Science Laboratory, MSL). This is the fourth rover Nasa has put on Mars, but its scale and sophistication dwarf all previous projects. Its biggest instrument alone is nearly four times the mass of the very first robot rover deployed on the planet back in 1997. Curiosity has been sent to investigate the central mountain inside Gale Crater that is more than 5km high. It will climb the rise, and, as it does so, study rocks that were laid down billions of years ago in the presence of liquid water. The vehicle will be looking for evidence that past environments could have favoured microbial life. Scientists warn, however, that this will be a slow mission - Curiosity is in no hurry. For one thing, the rover has a plutonium battery that should give it far greater longevity than the solar-panelled power systems fitted to previous vehicles. "People have got to realise this mission will be different," commented Steve Squyres, the lead scientist of the Opportunity and Spirit rovers landed in 2004. "When we landed we only thought we'd get 30 sols (Martian days) on the surface, so we had to hit the ground running. Curiosity has plenty of time," he told the BBC. Initially, the rover is funded for two years of operations. But many expect this mission to roll and roll for perhaps a decade or more

Now support staff mandatory for trekkers

Tourists treveling to any trekking destination will have to take at least a support staff with them from September. Government officials say the decision has been taken for the safety to tourist.

According to a recent policy decision of the Ministry of Home Affairs, tourists, who want to trek solo in Nepal, must hire at least a porter or a guide, Trekkers traveling in groups are already required to take the service of government registered trekking agencies.

Trekking Agencies Associationof Nepal has welcomed the decision and urged the government to include the decision in the Tourism Act for effective implementation. “The decision will helps promote Nepal as a safe destination for tourists at a time when international media are questioning the safety of foreigners in Nepal,” Mohan Lamsal, general secretary of Langtang National park along with some other cases of disappearance of trekkers have created negative image of Nepal in international market. according to Lamsal. Rana Bahadur Khadka, first president of TAAN, said the new policy decision means all the trekkers will have to take the service of government registered trekking agencies. He said this will control illegal operation of trekking business.

According to trekking operators, the new policy change will increase budget of FITs by only around $10 per day. “This is a very nominal amount and it won not affect tourist arrivals.

An increasing number of traders have been going to Jiri to procure potatoes prompted by rising demand in Kathmandu. Most of the farmers here have kept stocks of fresh potatoes in anticipation of buyers with businesses in Kathmandu.
Sita Jirel, a farmer, said that they had been approached by traders who buy potatoes and dispatch them to the Kalimati vegetable market in Kathmandu.
Farmers start collecting and storing potatoes at Varanda from mid-June. Almost every household in Besiswara village have been storing potatoes at their homes. Saila Tamang, a trader who arrived in Jiri to purchase potatoes, said that demand for potatoes from Jiri is so great that they are sold out in no time.
According to Sita, the potatoes produced in Jiri are very tasty probably because of the high altitude. “They cook in a short time and become soft,” she added. Sita has sold 2,000 kg of potatoes so far.
Likewise, another farmer Shova Jirel said that they could have sold all their output but production was lower compared to last year. Both white and red potatoes are produced here.
Red potatoes are considered to be good for mixing with other vegetables. Tamang said that demand for red potatoes was comparatively high. Farmers are selling potatoes at Rs 22 per kg. However, they are unaware of its price in Kathmandu.
Tamang said that they take potatoes from Jiri to sell them at the wholesale market in Kathmandu. Around 100 tons of potatoes were sold outside Jiri during the two month period of June-July.
District Agriculture Office chief Yubaraj Pandey said that potato production had decreased due to the late arrival of the monsoon this year.
“Mid-May is the time when potatoes are formed in the roots. So rainfall is expected during this period. Since, there was no rain, production fell,” he said. Farmers from other places like Shailung, Gairimudi and Kalinchok have also complained that they couldn’t produce potatoes adequately this time.

Naturally Nepal once is not enough.

Tourists making repeat visits to Nepal in 2009 made up almost half of the total arrivals giving credence to the travel trade’s advertising slogan “Naturally Nepal — Once Is Not Enough”.
According to the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), among the 509,956 tourists who visited Nepal last year, 158,153 were making their second visit, 7,858 were here for the third time, 7,426 for the fourth and 18,256 for the fifth or more times. Tourists visiting the country for the first time numbered 318,263. Although past records are not available, NTB officials and travel trade entrepreneurs said that the number of tourists making repeat visits had gone up. “This shows that tourists want to come to Nepal again and again, but negative publicity has forced them to think twice about their travel plans,” they said. Aditya Baral, senior director and spokesperson of the NTB, said it was encouraging that repeat visits to Nepal were increasing. “Repeat visits make the tourism sector sustainable in any country,” he said. Repeat visitors usually spend less according to international trends, but that is not the case in Nepal, he added. Indian sent the highest number of first-time and repeat visitors to Nepal. Among the 93,884 travellers from India, 54,120 were here for the first time while the rest were repeat visitors. Cultural ties, pilgrimage options and better air connectivity are the major reasons behind the large number of repeat visitors from India, Baral said. The US, the UK, France, China and Spain are among the other countries sending repeat visitors to Nepal after India. Abhinav Rana, general manager of the Radisson Hotel, said that the hotel had more repeat corporate clients in 2009 compared to the previous year. Despite political instability and weak performance of the national flag carrier, the number of repeat visitors has swelled, said Ram Kazi Koney, managing director of Gandaki Tours & Travels and past president of the Nepal Association of Travel and Tour Agents (NATTA). He added that it was a good indication that the country’s tourism sector could flourish instantly if the political situation becomes stable

Indian and Chinese tourists have lowest length of stay

Nepal received the highest number of tourists from India and China, but their length of stay is the lowest among all the source markets. According to the Tourism Ministry, visitors from the two neighbouring countries spent 7.99 and 10.14 days respectively in Nepal in 2011. The length of stay of Indian tourists is the lowest among the source markets. Chinese visitors are the third shortest stayers. The average length of stay of Indian tourists recorded a drop from 10.10 days in 2010. Similarly, the length of stay of Chinese tourists was down from 15.38 in 2010. Sri Lankan visitors stayed an average of 10.08 days in Nepal to take the spot between Indians and Chinese. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka sent the third largest number of tourists to Nepal in 2011. Nepal received 154,735 Indian, 75,631 Chinese and 69,241 Sri Lankan visitors last year. The three countries took the first, second and third spots respectively in arrivals last year. Finnish tourists took the top spot in length of stay, spending an average of 24.50 days in Nepal in 2011. They were followed by visitors from the US, Norway, Australia and Switzerland. Travel trade entrepreneurs said that the Indian market has been classified in the mass tourism segment so Indian visitors have a short length of stay. Their favourite places to visit are Kathmandu, Pokhara, Jomsom and Muktinath. Similarly, pilgrimage is the number one purpose of visit for Chinese and Sri Lankan tourists. Meanwhile, the average length of stay of tourists in Nepal increased to a seven-year high of 13.12 days in 2011. Travel trade analysts have attributed the record growth to a decline in strikes and increased tourist arrivals for trekking and mountaineering, particularly from the US and Europe. According to the Tourism Ministry, visitors coming for trekking and mountaineering in 2011 increased 11.7 percent against a decline of 47.2 percent in 2010. Nepal recorded the highest ever length of stay of 13.51 days in 2004.

Tara Air begians Bhojpur flight

Tara Air, a subsidiary of Yeti Airlines, on Monday conducted its maiden flight between Kathmandu and Bhojpur as part of its expansion to serve the remote sector.
According to the carrier, it will run the service in the sector every Monday, with a Tara Air plane taking off from Kathmandu at 9:20 to Bhojpur and returning at 10:25 to Kathmandu.
A 1,650 meter long runway in Bhojpur is situated at 3,962 ft above the sea level and it takes 45 minutes to reach the destination. The airfare to the sector is Rs 4,995 for Nepalis and $ 132 for the foreigners. Lalupate Travels has been appointed the general sales agents of Tara Air for the sector.

"We believe this operation will help promote tourism and ease passenger services in the sector, including cargo and food delivery," the carrier said in a statement. Tara Air operates its scheduled flights to short-haul sector like Lukla, Faflu, Lamidanda, Tumlingtar and Ramechhap from Kathmandu; Jomsom and Manang from Pokhara and Dolpa, Jumla, Bajura, Simikot, Rara from Nepalgunj and Surkhet base.