South
Asia Watch on Trade Economics and Environment, in collaboration with German
Cooperation for Development (GIZ) organized a Public Private Dialogue (PPD) on
enhancing export competitiveness of honey on 23 December 2014. The
programme was attended by more than 40 participants representing the
government, private sector and media. The objective of the event was to identify
and address export-related barriers facing the Nepali beekeeping sector. The
dialogue discussed various barriers prevalent in the sector and came up a
comprehensive action plan to address them.
In
the introductory session, Dr. Hiramani Ghimire, Executive Director, SAWTEE acknowledged
the socio-economic importance of honey and its contribution in poverty
reduction in Nepal. He stressed on the importance of dialogue between the
private and public sectors to discuss challenges facing the sector and to come
up with workable solutions to address them.
Dr.
Peter Ritcher, Chief Technical Advisor, GIZ, Trade Promotion Programme (TPP) gave
a brief highlight of the role of GIZ in supporting Nepal’s development. He
mentioned that at present GIZ is working with the Ministry of Commerce and
Supplies in supporting select products included in the Nepal Trade Integration
Strategy (NTIS) and mentioned that the areas of support included overcoming supply
side constraints, strengthening value chains and developing capacity of the
MoCS to address trade-related barriers in some of the NTIS products. He also
mentioned that GIZ is planning to extend support in some additional sectors,
including some service sectors, in a near future.
The
session also included a presentation on honey sector by Dr. Posh Raj Pandey,
Chairman, SAWTEE who presented findings of a research study on Nepali honey
sector carried out by SAWTEE with support from GIZ TPP.He highlighted Nepali honey export has been declining steadily and
pointed out that the dearth in quantity of production and lack of quality
assurance mechanism have been the primary reasons behind this fall in export.
The
session concluded with remarks from Dr. Chiranjibi Nepal, Economic Advisor to
the Prime Minister who congratulated SAWTEE on a comprehensive and informative
research on honey. He emphasized on the need for coherent market driven
economic policies for development of Nepal. He also stressed on the need for
standardization in the honey sector for improving its trade performance and assured
the forum to extend necessary support to formulate a comprehensive beekeeping
policy to govern the sector.
The
introductory session was followed by a thematic session which discussed the
findings of the study. Mr. Toya Narayan Gyawali, Joint Secretary, Ministry of
Commerce and Supplies remarked that the study report to be published by SAWTEE
will prove to be an important document of reference for the Government of Nepal
with regards to honey sector. He also commented that the success of developing
economies like Ethiopia, Zambia and Vietnam in exporting large quantities of
honey showed that Nepal too can successfully produce larger quantities of honey
and export it to international markets. He further stressed on the need to
conduct a study on domestic consumption of honey in Nepal. Mr. Gyawali also
stated the crucial importance of coordination within various government
agencies in dealing with various non-tariff measures and to promote the sector
as a whole.
Mr.
Jagadish Bhakta Shrestha, Programme Director, Directorate of Industrial
Entomology Development (DoIED), Ministry of Agriculture Development accepted
that Nepalese honey industry has failed to realize its enormous potential in
terms of both production and export. He also noted various positive
externalities of promoting beekeeping including poverty reduction, cross-pollination
and consequent increase in agricultural productivity. He informed the
participants that the Nepal Beekeeping Policy will be finalised soon with Ministry
of Agriculture Development and the DoIED taking the lead. He further notified
the participants that the Directorate is currently implementing a
youth-oriented beekeeping promotion campaign in 35 districts across Nepal.
Speaking
on behalf of the private sector, Mr. Dharma Raj Shrestha, Chairperson of
Central Honey Entrepreneurs Association of Nepal stressed on the importance of
promoting Apis Mellifera bees for
increasing the production of honey in Nepal given their high production
potential. He pointed out that Nepal lagged behind its competitors in terms of
quantity, quality and price of honey and emphasized the need for promoting
commercial farming besides subsistence farming.
The
third session included identification on trade barriers and preparation of
action plan to remove these barriers. Mr. Gopal Prasad Tiwari, Coordinator,
Nepal Business Forum (NBF) introduced the participants on the working
mechanisms of the NBF. The participants were then divided into groups and came
up with presentable action plan for tackling issues related to quality
infrastructure, policy barriers and trade promotion barriers.
Programme Agenda
List of Participants
Presentations:
Public Private Dialogue on Enhancing Export Competitiveness of Nepalese Honey
Media Coverage:
