Buckwheat cultivation in Nepal and it's benefits - बाराही अनलाइन खबर

Introduction:

Buckwheat is a sixth staple food crop after rice, wheat, maize, finger millet, and barley in Nepal. It is considered as an alternate cereal and poor man’s crop, representing an important food supply in remote places of Himalayas. It is the best crop in higher altitude in terms of adaptation to different climatic variables and easily fitted to different cropping patterns due to short duration. It is cultivated on marginal land in 61 out of 75 districts of Nepal from some 60 m to 4500 m asl, especially hilly and mountain districts like Rukum, Rolpa, Jajarkot, Dolpa, Humla, Jumla, Kalikot, Kavre, Dolakha, and Okhaldhunga. Sweet buckwheat varieties are generally grown in mid-hill and Terai but Tartary buckwheat varieties are grown in higher altitude. There are altogether 19 local landraces of sweat buckwheat and 37 for Tartary buckwheat listed from Nepal. The largest producers are China, USA, and Russia and Japan is principal user of global buckwheat grown in the world. In Nepal, it is cultivated in 10510 ha area with production of 10355 t/yr and yield of 0.983 t/ha.To date, five species of Fagopyrum (buckwheat), namely, F. esculentum, F. tataricum, F. cymosum, F. gracilipes, and F. megacarpum, have been reported from Nepal.

Benefits:

Buckwheat is a multipurpose crop and has been cultivated for its uses as staple food, animal feed, vegetable, soup, beverage, and medicine . All parts of buckwheat plants are used in various ways. The leaf produced rutin important pharmaceutical product which is used to brew tea used to treat hypertonia; flowers which bloom about one month produce good quality nectar for honey; grain is the staple food; hulls of grain are used to make pillows; straw is good source feed for livestock; and green plants are used as green manures.

There is a list of 34 food items prepared from buckwheat in Nepal such as dhindo (thick porridge), roti (bread), momo (Chinese pancake), lagar (very thick bread), dheshu (thicker than lagar), fresh vegetables, dried vegetables, Kancho pitho (raw flour), chhyang or jaand (local beer), raksi (alcohol), salad (leaves), pickle (fresh and dry leaves), soup, ryale roti, Noodle, sel roti, bhat (rice), sausage, dorpa dal, tea, vinegar, jam, macaroni, biscuit, cakes, mithai (sweet), haluwa, puri, puwa, bhuteko Phapar (roasted grain), satu, phuraula, porridge, and pakauda. Nepalese mountain people prefer dhindo than other items because of its specific taste .

Common buckwheat is mostly used as bread pancake attractive item to the tourist in the tracking root of Mustang. Thick porridge prepared by mixing the flour of bitter buckwheat with Uwa (Oat) or finger millet in 1 : 3 ratio is common food of poor people in hilly area. Buckwheat has high nutrition because of balanced amino acids and minerals as well as free from cholesterol ; nowadays, it is a preferred diet in urban areas. Both buckwheat species have pharmaceutical value; the food of buckwheat has a preventive action on leg oedema, high blood pressure and cholesterol, and cardiovascular disease .

Major component of buckwheat is rutin, which is higher in bitter buckwheat than in sweet one due to the high nutrients and pharmaceutical value; Nepal has a great scope to export the buckwheat. Paste of Tartary buckwheat’s flour is applied for treating wounds and fire burn, and its semi-cooked flour is used orally to cure cold, cough, jaundice, and fever; fresh flour is good for dandruff treatment as well as for stopping hair fall; flour paste is used in pimples and skin scratches; Tartary buckwheat flour drained water after dipping overnight is used for epilepsy; tender, twigs, and leaves of wild buckwheat is used in dysentery, pneumonia, and cholera and reduces the effect of poison; soaked flour is useful for internal worms . Buckwheat flour is given to the sick goat and sheep. Common buckwheat is also preferred by local people during the fasting on religious occasions.

Conclusion:
The agricultural land of Nepal is very diverse due to varied physiography. The cropping pattern is varied in different regions of Nepal; it also depends on elevation, culture, and agriculture practices of ethnic communities. Sixty-five percent of the total population still depend on agriculture and contributed 36% for National GDP. It also has medicinal value used in different forms including all its parts so the demand of buckwheat is increasing.

Writer: Naresh Upadhyaya (Student, Bsc.ag IAAS Paklihawa, Nepal)