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Sasmita Tamang is switching gears. Last year, she started her own orchard with 200 coffee saplings. In Nepal, more farmers with disabilities like Sasmita are venturing into coffee farming with a little support and encouragement.

“After the birth of my second child, I found it increasingly difficult to look after two young kids under five. My husband is a migrant worker in the Middle East. There is no one else at home who can help me out with my chores. I am a goat farmer but that is demanding work. Especially, collecting fodder from the forest takes a lot of time. When I had my first born, I could still manage. I took him to forest with me, balanced on a basket in my head. But after the second child, it is much more difficult. I cannot leave my eldest with neighbours all the time; they too have their own chores to get to.

Someone I knew, introduced me to Sarada Didi. She is well-known in this area as a coffee collector and processor. After talking to her, I came to realize that I too could get into coffee farming. It seemed less labour intensive than goat farming, and I found out that coffee cherries yield a very good price. So under her supervision, I have also planted 200 saplings to start my own orchard. After the first three-four years, the plants will mature and start producing cherries. I am already looking forward to my first harvest.”

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Eight years since her first coffee harvest, Sarada Chaulagain today has established herself as one of the largest primary coffee processor and producers of coffee parchment in her district.

“Some farmers in the village had a few coffee plants. The main issue was finding a buyer. There were some instances when farmers completely uprooted their plants and replaced with other crops. When I first came to this village as a newlywed, I did not know much about coffee either. There were a few plants in our farm, but the nearest coffee cooperative was a day’s journey away. But I remember collecting my first harvest of about 4 kgs.
The year after that, I collected cherries from other farmers in the village as well and took it to the coffee cooperative. My profit was Rs 5 per kg. It was not a lot, but it was a start.

In the years since then, I have attended various trainings on coffee orchard management, Integrated pest management, and started working as an Extension Service Provider. Additionally, I also started my own pulping station, after improving my technical knowledge on primary processing. This marks the eight year since I started working in coffee. I collected around 8000 kgs of cherries this year and produced 2000 kgs of parchment.

I am a living example that the future of Nepali coffee is bright. My wish is to encourage and support more women and people with disabilities to become involved in coffee farming. Sasmita is one such person, but we need to create many more Sasmitas to make our coffee inclusive.”

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Ganga Maya Shrestha was one of the trainees of the first ‘Inclusive barista training’ for people with hearing disabilities organized by Nepal Coffee Academy. She now works at a café in Kathmandu as a Barista.

As customers pour into the café, Ganga Maya Shrestha goes up to them with the menu and a piece of paper for them to write their orders on. Then she moves to the coffee machine and starts working on her orders. Ranjana Ojha, her employer, goes in and out of the backroom, bringing out cutlery and freshly baked cakes. Though Ranjana does not know sign language, they work in harmony, communicating with simple hand gestures, facial expressions, body language and the occasional notepad. Ganga uses sign language to express that she is happy at the café and likes her work very much.

Ranjana adds, “It is important that employers assess prospective employees based on their skills and competencies alone. And we should not let our known or unknown biases affect our decisions during recruitment. Everyone deserves an opportunity to decent employment. After working with Ganga, I have no qualms about hiring more people with disabilities at my Bakery.”

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For Nepali coffee entrepreneurs like Kedar Sapkota (Madan), coffee is good business. But it’s not all about the bottom line. They are also paying more attention to the social impact of the coffee they produce and sell.

“When I was just starting out, I was in Nuwakot visiting coffee farmers and coffee orchards. There I met a young guy, who had a physical disability. But I remember vividly how he was so enthused to meet me and all day, he took me up and down his farm, showing me the ropes, answering all my questions, and introducing me to new people. I came away from that experience, feeling ashamed and hyper aware of my own bias against people with disabilities. And also, realizing, it only takes one experience to challenge such deep-set biases.

Now that I am a coffee entrepreneur, I am trying to do my bit. Not just on moral grounds, but also because it makes sense to me as a businessman. There is a growing domestic market for Nepali coffee. And the consumer base is mostly urban, educated youth. The concept of social impact/entrepreneurship is relatively new to us. However, I know that my consumers care about the social impact, traceability, accountability and fair business practices of businesses they support.

Inclusive coffee is the perfect intersection of both social impact and good business sense. I will be creating opportunities for more people with disabilities in my business, while also serving my consumers great coffee that has created tangible social impact.”

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Dr Banjara is a multi-hyphenate – producer, trader, retailer and an educator of Nepali coffee. More recently, he has added another feather to his cap, as the proprietor of the first Inclusive Coffee Training Academy in Kathmandu, Nepal.

“We are blessed by nature. Our geography and climate is such that 80% of the work is done by nature. And our farmers are majority smallholder farmers, so our farming practices are still traditional and thus organic. That is the reason our coffee is specialty grade. Now, we need to improve the other 20% which can be done through proper farming practices, reducing post-harvest loss, improving primary processing facilities, and improving market linkages. I always tell everyone; Nepali coffee is as precious as diamond. We need to recognize it for the value it carries.

We have established markets in Korea, Japan and some countries in Europe. However, we cannot rely purely on the niche value. Ofcourse, we cannot compete with the giants such as Vietnam or Ethiopia, but we can surely add value to our home-grown coffee. Micro-lots, direct trades, improving traceability, and transparency, greening the supply chain etc. are all ways we can add value to our coffee. And promoting inclusion.

I have had the opportunity to facilitate a few Barista trainings for people with disabilities. And I was completely blown away by their dedication and hard work. Many are now employed, which brings me a lot of joy. But it highlights the missed opportunities in the coffee value chain for inclusion. I source coffee from farmers with disabilities but that was the extent of it. Now, I am making a more concerted effort to make my coffee value chain inclusive of people with disabilities at every tier. These days when I market my product to the international buyers, my coffee carries the iCoffee logo for Inclusive coffee. This is not just a marketing ploy, it is a movement.”

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