Here’s for something a little different – did you know Futurepump is not only selling in Africa? In fact, one of our first distribution countries was Nepal, Asia, supported by the work of iDE (read a blog from them here…).
Nepal is a fantastic place for agriculture with its rich variety of biodiversity and topographic regions encouraging a vast array of crops. These range from staple grains to cash crops such as oilseed and cotton to the orthodox teas and spices the country is known for (locally at least).
The enormous range of crops which can be grown in Nepal, in addition to its unpolluted soils and atmosphere, makes Nepal a very exciting agricultural opportunity. Nepal’s GDP from agriculture and forestry shows an upwards trend which may reflect this, however, environmental conditions are still a serious limiting factor.
So, this agro-biodiversity is also borne of necessity. Most Nepalese farmers grow a range of crops as an insurance against ever uncertain weather and economic conditions.
As ever, smallholder farmers are most at risk from price fluctuations in the market as well as unpredictable rainfall.
The place for solar irrigation
Solar irrigation brings some certainly back into these small businesses. Being able to irrigate on demand reduces the reliance on rainfall and reduces the impact of the dry seasons.
And it is interesting to see a real push to market some specialised crops from Nepal, such as the teas I mentioned earlier. Grown in the foothills of the Himalayas at an altitude of 3,000 – 7,000 ft elevation Nepali Tea is some of the highest quality in the world but remains largely niche.
I wonder what an increased reliability in agricultural output could do to the export market and incomes of Nepalese farmers…
Futurepump Tour from Nepal
This month we will be sharing stories from our customers in Nepal. We’ll be seeing what range of crops they are cultivating and learning what it is like to farm in this small but diverse country.
We will also introduce our distributor, Krishna Grill, a 30-year-old company which was established by Krishnamani Rajbhandari.
Click here to find out more about our solar pumps in Nepal
Some top facts about Nepal!
Author: Helen Davies