We started the SAP Coffee Nursery, Namuna, two years ago in 2020. My father, after eight years of enthusiastic study on coffee cultivation, had registered his own company as a service and product business model.
He helped smallholder coffee farmers with free and low-cost seedlings. He could see a huge market for quality coffee seedlings, as they are considered “brown gold”.
Today, we have 2,000 seedlings in the nursery, and plan to have 6,000–9,000 by 2025.
We grow Bourbon and yellow Caturra which are both high quality, flavoursome and robust varieties. Healthy seedlings have stems of pencil size thickness with dark green glossy leaves, no branching and no sign of disease or deficiency.
Our nursery is called Namuna. It means a good example of farming that follows nursery standards.
The SAP Coffee Nursery in Bagmati province is open six days a week and offers free, post-sales technical support for farmers.
The nursery has 3 polyhouse tunnels made of bamboo, each 25 x 10 feet, and a seedling bed plot. Our coffee seedlings begin life in the bed plot. Once leaves emerge, they are moved to polybags.
We have shade netting to protect the seedlings from the winter cold, and it provides enough sunlight. However, we have found that netting can make plants prone to disease and they do not remain healthy after planting in the farmer’s field. So, most of our seedlings are grown without netting so they are hardy and strong. Instead, we work on selective seed propagation for disease-resistance, and care for them with proper sanitation.
We adopt special management techniques to protect our plants from infection and diseases. We use lime water for disinfectant, it is kept in the polyhouse inlet door, and we dip our boots into before entering the nursery.
All nursery tools such as kodalo (hoe) and kutto (fork) are washed with tap water, while propagating tools like secateurs are disinfected with spirits before and after use.
Caturra
Caturra has a yellow cherry which aesthetically gives a beautiful mixture of red and yellow cherries in the garden. It is slightly sweet with a complex and crisp taste. It is easy to roast with a good flavour popular with customers.
Yellow Caturra has a higher yield and is a smaller plant with good-sized cherries. It grows well in any coffee farm and is highly adaptable in different environments.
Bourbon
Bourbon is considered the best specialty coffee in the world due to its buttery flavour, nuttiness, and smooth consistency.
It is popular with consumers, yields average sized cherries and is highly adaptable to Nepal’s climate.
We choose to grow Bourbon and yellow Caturra coffee seedlings.
Establish windbreakers one year before planting the seedlings. If the shade plants are not well developed prior to planting, farmers will need to set up temporary shade to protect seedlings from frost and cold during the winter months.
Lay out the field using an A-frame and develop spot terraces. Dig pit 1m2 in Falgun-Chaitra month, leaving for solarisation of soil.
Collect forest leaves to fill a compost pit in the field. Apply well-rotted compost 10 days before planting. Plant seedlings at Shrawan month (August).
