GULMI: The demand for coffee seedlings has surged in Gulmi, creating a significant supply gap at the Coffee Development Center in Aapchaur, Musikot Municipality-5.
The Center, a key federal horticulture and seed resource hub, is currently struggling to meet the increasing needs of farmers across Nepal.
According to Center Chief Jeevan Acharya, the nursery has received requests for over 200,000 coffee seedlings this year. However, it has only been able to produce 70,000 due to limited resources and workforce constraints.
“Farmers from more than 40 districts—including Arghakhanchi, Kaski, Syangja, Lamjung, Dhading, and Gulmi—have requested seedlings, but we simply cannot meet the demand,” Acharya said.
Despite being the country’s primary institution for coffee research and cultivation, the Center lacks sufficient infrastructure and manpower to scale up production. Commercial coffee cultivation in Gulmi was initiated in 1984 when King Birendra established the Coffee Development Center in Aapchaur.
The Center currently sells seedlings at Rs. 40 apiece and engages in various stages of the coffee value chain, including seed cultivation, garden management, picking, and processing. Around 50 temporary workers are employed during the production season.
Equipped with pulping, hulling, drying, roasting, and spraying machines, the facility operates on 184 ropani of land. Of this, 12,000 coffee seedlings have been planted in the Center’s main garden, and another 60,000 are growing across six nurseries in Aapchaur.
Coffee cultivation in Gulmi now covers approximately 300 hectares. Multiple institutions—including the Agricultural Knowledge Center, the Prime Minister Agriculture Modernization Project, the Coffee Research Center in Bhandaridanda, and local governments—are working together to boost coffee farming in the region.
As global and domestic interest in Nepali coffee grows, the need for greater investment in infrastructure and staffing at key nurseries like Aapchaur becomes ever more urgent.
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