NATURAL PLANT FIBERS

The Himalayan nettle (Girardinia diversifolia) is a fiber yielding non-timber forest product that has cultural, economic and medicinal values to many ethnic communities residing in the hill and mountain areas of Nepal. If the nettle value chain can be strengthened at each node of the chain, then it has high potentiality to uplifting the livelihoods of many poor households in those areas. With this objective, the Himalayan nettle value chain development interventions in the form of promotion of local institutions, enterprise development, product value addition and development, capacity building at the community level and promotion of linkages through private sector engagement are initiated in Darchula, one of the remote districts in far-western Nepal. The impact of Himalayan nettle value chain development interventions on households’ income from the sale of nettle products can go a long way in mitigating the poverty of remote mountain communities of Nepal Himalayas. Using propensity score matching (PSM) technique in a cross-sectional data, it was discovered that participation in the Himalayan nettle value chain development intervention has positive and significant impact on the households’ annual income from the sale of nettle products. Capacity building and facilitation activities on product development and market linkages are important to help increase productivity and decrease per unit production cost of non-timber forest products like the Himalayan nettle. Value chain development and concentrated market linkages are hence essential to diversify livelihood options for natural resource dependent rural communities.

 

The Himalayan nettle (Girardinia diversifolia) grows from eastern to western region between the altitudes of 1,200 to 3,000 m. Fiber is present in the inner bark of the stalk with high strength and length. The fiber is considered superior to jute and is useful for mixing with wool and cotton. It has cultural, economic and medicinal values for many ethnic communities like Rai, Gurung, Sherpa and others living in the mountain areas of Nepal and India. The hilly residents and ethnic minorities have extracted the nettle bark for centuries to produce various items such as bags, porter’s head bands or straps, ropes, mats and coarse clothing, among others. Different parts of the nettle plant are traditionally utilized as medicine. The Himalayan nettle products have both national and international markets values. In Nepal, people have tried to commercialize the fibre and develop high end products from apparels to home décor items. However, due to poor processing, packaging and standardization, its full potentiality is yet to be realized.

 

Mt. Everest Forest Botanicals Alliance has partnered with the indigeneous communities of Darchula district under MEFBA value chain development intervention and have collaborated for setting up SME Projects including tying up with markets in Kathmandu and overseas.

 

MEFBA provides technical support, capacity building, market tie-ups, and a host of engaging deliverables creating impact grassroots SME intervention on Allo (Himalayan Nettle Fibre).

 

MEFBA Interventions:

 

The allo value chain development in MEFBA partner projects demonstrated a successful model for women’s empowerment through collective action. Local women have become active members of the allo enterprise and are increasing financial security at the household level by selling allo products in different forms. The project identified good practices using environmentally friendly and energy-efficient technologies and methods that minimize the use of external inputs such as chemicals and fuelwood. The MEFBA allo projects have produced the following impacts, the scalability is to be replicated to achieve an outcome that will not only help in the sustainability of the environment but will also create livelihoods in the areas that lack physical infrastructure.

 

• An orchestrated effort targeting training, skills development, exposure visits, and women’s active participation is important for promoting inclusive development of a value chain.

 

• Enterprises based on natural resources like allo require sound ecosystem management to ensure sustainability.

 

• Partnership with a private-sector entity that considers social and environmental values, as well as economic gains, is key for value chain promotion in a remote landscape.

 

• Mobilise, organise, motivate and train women, dalits and and other weaker sections communities into cooperative societies for producing and marketing allo fibres and finished hand-crafted products.

Hemp is an annual plant of the cannabis family, but it is not marijuana. It tends to be utilized to make an extensive variety of item because of its adaptable properties. As a fiber, hemp is a conventional material for making rope; it can likewise make paper and hemp cloth. Wide ranges of products like textiles, bio-fuel, biodegradable plastics, cosmetics, medicine, etc. are also made from hemp. Hemp seeds have been used in bird feed mix and can be utilized in the produce of oil-based paints, in creams as a saturating operator, for cooking etc. 

Hemp fibers are considered as one of the strong members of bast natural fibers family, which are derived from the hemp plant under the species of Cannabis. Nowadays, these fibers have received wide acceptance as reinforcements in composite materials on account of their biodegradability and low density compared with artificial fibers. Also these materials have inherent mechanical, thermal, and acoustic properties. Surface functionalization of hemp fibers is of relevant importance to widen its applications.

 

There are some of the exceptional properties of hemp are:

 

• Hemp fiber is eight times stretchable and four times durable than cotton.

 

• Hemp clothes take in moisture up to 30% of its weight and dry quickly.

 

• Cultivation of hemp needs less water because it can resist drought.

 

• It needs few or no insecticides and pesticides because it is resistant to bacteria, mold, and mildew.

 

• Hemp grown in one acre of land can produce 250% or more fabric than cotton.

Hemp is grown at upper middle altitudes (approximately 1,500-3,500 meters elevation) in several districts of western Nepal in Darchula, Bajhang, Bajura, Dailekh, Jajarkot, Rolpa and Rukum, with the majority of cultivation and textile production taking place in the more remote regions around 3,000 meters elevation. However, the higher altitude areas of upper Darchula District have long been considered the source of the highest quality Nepali hemp cloth. Hemp fiber is either spun into twine and rope, coarse yarn for weaving commercial market cloth and rough sacking, or finer yarn for weaving their traditional cloth used domestically for blankets, sash belts and grain storage sacks.

 

Hemp crops share fields with other “grain” crops like wheat, maize, tomatoes, mustard , potatoes and tree fruits like apples, pears and plums e.t.c. Mature plants are harvested in October through early December.  Plants are harvested in the morning after the dew evaporates, beginning with the larger spontaneously growing plants. Plants intended for fiber use are harvested by pulling them from the ground and then slicing off the roots with a sickle.

 

PROCESSING STALKS, FIBER AND YARN

 

At harvest, the stalks range from 4-15 millimeters in diameter at the base, with the taller plants being of larger diameter. Smaller diameter stalks are preferred for spinning finer yarn for weaving. Very large and branched stalks can be used only for making rough cordage and are often simply stripped of their bark when still fresh and green.

After cutting, the stems are left to dry for 3-5 days before being let in either still or running water for one or two days. The fibrous portion is teased out with the teeth, like allo (nettle) and then twisted and pulled clear. These fibers are coated with clay to make them soft and are sun-dried for two to three days and then beaten with a long paddle, which would free and soften the fiber. After spinning, the thread is boiled with wood ash and water for half an hour, washed until free of ash, and dried again.

 

SPINNING YARN FOR WEAVING

 

Generally, a wooden top or charkha (spinning wheel) is employed for spinning softened hemp fibers. In some cases, the fiber is rolled around the waist and the free end is clamped between the teeth. One hand quickly rolls the fiber down-through the teeth, which act as a filter-on to the spinner. The fineness of the yarn largely depends on the quality of the fiber and skill of the spinner. The thread obtained is suitable for making cloth, sacks, bags, head-straps (namlo),rope, fishnets etc. The products designed in Kathmandu for export include hemp  thread knitted into vests, shawls and a variety of new products ranging from bags, cushions covers, wallet, and men and ladies clothing with natural dyes.

 

ECONOMIC VALUE OF HEMP

 

The use of hemp for textiles, however, is very old. People have been cultivating hemp longer than any other textile fiber. Its textile use goes back as far as several millennia. Although today one finds scores of hemp goods dealers and exporters around Kathmandu Valley, very few are using locally grown and processed hemp for their natural fiber clothes. Hemp being an eco- friendly, sustainable and versatile fiber is providing economic opportunities  to one of the most underdeveloped regions of mountain Nepal. The MEFBA Natural Fibre Intervention has a very engaging and dynamic grassroots cottage industry under NTFP sector.

 

MEFBA Intervention:

 

• Provide services in resource management, marketing, financing and technological development. External inputs in institutional, technical, financial and marketing services have been the crucial factors for the success of hemp cooperative project.

 

• Use market-driven strategies. Market driven strategies should be adopted in the process of hemp fibre development, from designing enterprise modalities to its operational activities. The important factors for such strategies include efficiency, product quality, production volume, promotional measures, and economies of scale.

 

• Provide forward linkages. It is important to provide support to the hemp project for forward linkages with buyers, facilitate buyer-seller agreements/contracts. It is envisaged to create and facilitate the development of national level marketing enterprises to provide fair and equitable forward links to community-based enterprises.

 

• Ensure the sustainability of the resource base. It is important not just to ensure a consistent supply of raw materials of hemp and allo, but also wider conservation values, such as ecosystem services. MEFBA and FECOFUN collaboration has a strategic action plan to have mechanisms to check over-harvesting or improper harvesting and executable plans for countermeasures against habitat loss.

 

• Link with fair trade business. Natural products and organically certified products are often tied to the international fair trading system. The ultimate buyers of most of the forest products are mainly outside the country. MEFBA and FECOFUN has a working module to encourage the partner SMEs to design products to cater to the needs of the buying communities abroad. A national programme needs to be in place that connects SMFES to fair trade companies abroad.