With the Tihar festival, farmers are also busy harvesting cardamom

Kathmandu, 23 Oct: During the Tihar festival, farmers in Taplejung have become busy picking (harvesting) cardamom. As it is the season for harvesting cardamom, the main cash crop of the district, farmers are busy picking cardamom, even skipping the festivities.

The Tihar of farmers involved in cardamom cultivation is being spent in the cardamom plantations. Since the main cardamom harvesting season falls in Ashwin and Kartik months, farmers say they have no choice but to be busy, even during Tihar.

Khangdu Sherpa, a farmer from Khejenim, Faktanglung Rural Municipality-2, mentioned that since it’s cardamom picking time, they have to prioritize harvesting it, leaving all other work aside. If delayed, wild animals cause damage by eating the crop. Sherpa, who is currently celebrating Tihar in the plantation itself while picking cardamom, added that birds, rats, and monkeys, among other wild animals, cause damage if the picking is delayed.

Farmers say that since it’s the main cardamom picking season, they are not in a position to celebrate the Tihar festival comfortably. Although they were able to celebrate the Dashain festival at home this year as it fell a bit earlier, Kedara Limbu, a farmer from Bihi Bara, Phungling Municipality-6, said they have to spend Tihar in the cardamom plantation.

Farmers involved in cardamom cultivation remain busy harvesting cardamom throughout the month of Kartik. This year, farmers are also enthusiastic as the price of cardamom is high. In Taplejung, regular cardamom is currently being traded at NPR 90,000 per mana (40 kg).

Cardamom cultivation takes place in all areas of Taplejung’s nine local levels, across 61 wards, except for Faktanglung-7 Olangchungola. According to the Agriculture Knowledge Centre, Taplejung, cardamom is cultivated on 4,165 hectares of land, and last year, 2,531 metric tons of cardamom were produced from this area.

In the fiscal year 2022/23, Nepal exported approximately 10 thousand metric tons of large cardamom, which was a record high and earned USD 63 million (approximately NRs. 8.27 billion). While exports have varied, recent figures show that for the first 11 months of fiscal year 2024/25, Nepal exported 3,989 tons of large cardamom, earning Rs 7.18 billion.