Diagnostic Study of Ginger Market Access for Eastern and Western region of Nepal

Abstract

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is one of the important spices in the world. Nepal is the fourth largest producers of ginger in the world, which produced 271.863 MT in 2016. In Nepal, seventy districts are producing ginger and around 400.000 households are involving in the ginger farming which is the chief source of the household income. Moreover, ginger has prioritized by several policies and strategies of the Government of Nepal. This paper examined the production trend and market access of Nepali ginger considering the ginger global market. A diagnostic study of production, value addition, and the marketing system was carried out between the eastern and the western part of Nepal. The secondary information was reviewed and analysed for the study. Likewise, the key informant survey was performed for the primary data and information. For Nepali ginger, India is found constantly top destination. The result of price index suggested that Nepali ginger is losing significant potential earning by not having top most lucrative markets for fresh ginger. Moreover, the trend of the export is ever fluctuating and the result showed that trade of ginger to India in term of export is more stable from the western region as compared to the eastern region. The study found that the major determinants of ginger market access are quality of ginger produced, value addition, level of trade facilitation, and domestic production and the import of India from other countries.