Ministry of Commerce And Supplies - Enhanced Integrated ...

N T I S2010Gender Impact: This sector creates an average impact on women, in terms of both employment creationand work stress. Their involvement is mainly concentrated on less hazardous activities in the value chain,i.e.harvesting and cleaning of lentils in the mill.Contribution to Skill Development: Government’s efforts to improve the lentil farming system usingappropriate inputs are contributing towards farmers’ skill development. Similarly, the mills are providingtraining to their workers.Impact on Development of Disadvantaged Regions: The impact on the disadvantaged groups of this sectoris reported to be very high. Most of the farm workers and manual workers in the marketing channel andtransportation are supplied by disadvantaged groups. Some of the 15 large mills are located in rural areas,creating employment opportunities for the poor and disadvantaged people. Lentil production also helpsfarmers to supplement their low protein diets and earn extra income by selling their surplus.Energy and Water Constraints: This sector is energy–intensive, using electricity in processing and petroleumin the transportation of raw materials and final products. But the utilization of water is very low; the crop ismostly rain-fed and very little water is used in its processing.Environmental Impact: Lentil is a leguminous crop which is characterized by ‘nitrogen fixing’ elementsenriching the soil. Thus, it is considered very environment-friendly. The processing does not emit significantpollution.Market Attractiveness IndexUnlike most other agricultural products, Nepalese lentils are already exported to a variety of markets, withTurkey being the major destination, followed by India. Turkey is the world’s major importer of lentils, withvery high growth rates in recent years, but applies a high tariff of 19.4 per cent. Other attractive marketsare the UAE, Sri Lanka, and Algeria. Tariff advantages play no role in these ‘“attractive markets’. Apart fromrelatively small markets, India is the only market where Nepal has a significant tariff advantage (MFN 10 percent, Nepal 0 per cent).RankCountryExports Nepal World market(2008) shareTable 2.14Attractive Markets for LentilsAttractive markets for Lentils (HS 0713.40)Top 10 - Weighted Market Attractiveness IndexGrowth rate(2004-2008)Tariff forNepalTariffadvantageMain competitors1 Turkey 8,963 19.4% 213.1% 19% 0% Canada, Iraq, Australia2 UAE 3790 6.5% 101.5% 5% 0% Canada, Australia, Turkey3 Sri Lanka 3192 8.6% 40.7% 11% 0% Australia, Canada, Turkey4 Algeria 0 4.1% 38.1% 5% 0% Canada, China, USA5 Iran 0 2.9% ? 5% 0% UAE, Canada, Turkey6 Egypt 2597 5.2% 11.6% 0% 0% Canada, Syria, Australia7 Saudi Arabia 0 2.4% 49.6% 5% 0% Canada, USA, Turkey8 Spain 0 3.8% 26.6% 0% 0% USA, Canada, Portugal9 UK 1337 2.9% 34.0% 0% 0% Canada, Turkey, Australia10 Pakistan 0 2.7% 31.9% 0% 0% Canada, USA, Ethiopia44NEPAL TRADE INTEGRATION STRATEGY 2010BACKGROUND REPORT