NPIA expresses commitment to support chyangra farmers

Kathmandu, Aug. 18:

Nepal Pashmina Industries Association (NPIA) has expressed the commitment to take the issues raised by the chyangra, or Himalayan sheep, farmers to the concerned authorities.

“Farmers are challenged by the killing of mountain goats by the snow leopards, poor sheds and poor market access. Therefore, the NPIA will support them in building safer sheds, establishing a better market for pashmina (cashmere) fibres from the chyangra,” president of NPIA Durga Bikram Thapa said while speaking at an interaction with the farmers here.

He stated that pashmina fibres from the chyangra were a genuine need, so the NPIA should work proactively to resolve the problems of the farmers.

He said that the NPIA was behind the farmers in providing them an enabling environment for promoting and developing the pashmina sector in Nepal.

President of Mustang Chyangra and Pashmina Farmers’ Association Karan Tangbe narrated the problems that the farmers were facing.

“The chyangra farmers of the Mustang region do not have a practice of taking out the chyangra hair, due to many factors like market access, inadequate equipment and little knowledge of the process. If we are to remove the barriers for the farmers, Nepal can benefit from increasing exports of genuine chyangra pashmina products from Nepal,” he said.

Expert said that Nepal’s pashmina market had huge international potential, and this could be exploited through close collaboration between the farmers and businesses with government support.

The NPIA has been promoting chyangra pashmina as a collective trademark and has registered the trademark in over 47 countries.

However, at present only 0.2% of the pashmina fabric required for exports is produced in Nepal.

Pashmina is made out of the inner hair of the chyangra.

According to Tangbe, there are roughly 100,000 chyangras in Nepal, of which roughly 60,000 chyangras are in the Upper Mustang region alone.

NPIA organised the programme with the  technical and financial support from ITC through the PETS project.