Ministry of Commerce And Supplies - Enhanced Integrated ...

N T I S20103. HONEYStrengthsAbundance of natural flora and faunaAvailability of appropriate climatic conditionsUnique flavour due to climatic conditions and floraVery positive socioeconomic impact, especiallyincome to poor landless farmersA lot of groundwork already done by differentorganizations in the pastInvolvement of a large number of entrepreneurs inthe processing and marketing of honeyHigh quality productionGood relation between beekeepers and stakeholdersOpportunitiesSale through tourismOrganic and fair trade honeyRelation with international buyersGrowing consumptionGrowing number of commercial beekeepersWeaknesses Lack of facilities and equipment for good exportquality honey Near saturation of domestic market andentrepreneurs’ inability to find new markets otherthan India Non-inclusion of Nepal in the list of countries that areauthorized to export honey to EU Absence of proper equipment and laboratory facilitiesto test for residue presence (MRLs)—a bottleneck forEU market and others Weak road/transportation access to pasture areas Lack of pasture management Small quantities of productionThreats Competition from both India and China in majormarkets Strikes and volatile political situation Use of pesticide in bee pasture areaActions Provide support to growers in pesticide management and establish effective quality supervisionand control systems. Submit a pesticide residue control plan to the EU and other honey importing countries. Strengthen testing laboratory capacity in the area of MRL. Set up internationally accredited laboratories that can certify produce for conformity withimporting market standards. Acquire organic certification. Reduce import duties and VAT on packing materials and abolish other duties and charges.NEPAL TRADE INTEGRATION STRATEGY 2010BACKGROUND REPORT271