Study on Distillation Units in Nepal completed: some preliminary findings

In May 2013, Chelsea Johnson conducted interviews in three different districts of Nepal: Banke and Bardiya in the terai and Lalitpur in the hills. 

The social changes seen since the installation of the distillation units (DUs) has been obvious.  All people who contributed plants for essential oil distillation have said that the extra income has been used for their children’s school fees and food for the household.  Even non-users have noticed change in the community: children are receiving better education and fewer men need to go abroad for work because of the increased incomes from essential oil production.  The money from cultivating and gathering plants contributes to 20-80% of household income, with an average of 45%. One farmer was able to make enough money from distilling essential oil in the community DU that he invested 100,000 rupees from his savings to buy his own DU.  He now charges others farmers to use it.

In the buffer zone around Bardiya National Park, essential oil crops keep wildlife from encroaching onto farms.  Because this has worked so well in Bardiya, essential oil crops are spreading to the area around the city of Pokhara in the hills, where monkeys are a serious problem in the community.

Even though the DUs have had success, there are opportunities for improvement.  With training for farmers in market dynamics, they could better understand price changes and grow crops accordingly.  An opportunity for additional income would be to sell the hydrosol, a by-product of processing which is currently being discarded but could sell for 720 rupees per liter of mentha hydrosol.  The DU’s strengths are being a simple technology which uses renewable energy; however, if a biomass gasifier was installed fuel usage could decrease, as well as greatly reduce emissions.

The distillation unit has many benefits for society, economy and environment.  The DUs visited in the study have provided significant additional income for smallholder farmers. This is especially true for women who make up more than half of the users and most of whom reported having opportunities equal to men.  Gathering, cultivation, and firewood collection are managed by a forest committee, so environmental resources are protected.  These assets are part of the reason that DUs continue to be installed across Nepal and become more successful each year.