Policy needs in harvesting and marketing of non-timber forest products in Nepal

[Abstract]: The task of marketing non-timber forest products (NTFP) has been one of the major challenges to NTFP collectors in Nepal and elsewhere. Owing to their ignorance about the prevailing market prices, the inaccessible terrains and inefficient marketing policies, the collectors are forced to dispose their products to local traders at low prices. The outcome of this is an increased rate of extraction of NTFP resources due to low profit margins received by the collectors. Therefore, to frame policies for increased returns to collectors, it is imperative to analyse the current harvesting and marketing status of NTFP. In this regard, two extensively traded species (asparagus and lichens) were chosen for the study. A series of discussions were conducted with forest officers, village traders and wholesalers, and members of four Village Development Committees (VDCs). The current methods of extraction for both the species were found to be detrimental to their regeneration. While asparagus is processed to some extent by the collectors, lichen is marketed in its raw form. There are many marketing irregularities for lichens which is banned for export in its raw form. Profit margins are similar for overnight collectors and daily collectors of asparagus. However, daily collectors of lichens seem to suffer from losses in the trading process. A high degree of ambiguity exists in the trade of products in terms of NTFP nomenclature and government royalties. The awareness survey shows that the collectors are poorly informed about marketing, regulatory policies and technical aspects of NTFP. In the light of these observations, a few policy recommendations have been highlighted.