High in the leafy mountains of southern India, three well-established organizations have worked closely for many years to successfully support indigenous communities and forest conservation while empowering people and championing sustainable practices. Forest and farm producers from the mountains of Nepal travelled to Kotagiri to find out more. 

Mountain regions are home to diverse ecosystems and valuable natural resources. They offer immense potential for producing unique, high-value agricultural and forestry products – including spices, honey, soapnuts, resins and coffee. But communities in these areas also face challenges. Limited market access, financial constraints, and inadequate infrastructure often prevent them from realizing the full economic potential of their beautiful surroundings. 

In Kotagiri, however, forest-based products are successfully reaching markets and indigenous communities are thriving. That’s why a group from Nepal including representatives of Community Forest User Groups; the Federation of Community Forest Users Nepal (FECOFUN); the Nepalese Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change; and the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare travelled to southern India for a four-day exposure visit from 15–19 December 2024. The aim of the visit, organized by the FFF, was to gain practical insight into how producers in a similar mountainous region are marketing quality forest products, promoting sustainable production and involving indigenous communities, and to share these learnings back home. 

Providing sustainable livelihoods

The hosts for their visit were:

• Keystone Foundation, an organization founded in 1993 which focuses on community empowerment, resource mapping, and collaboration with intergovernmental entities.
• Aadhimalai Pazhangudiyinar Producer Company Limited, an FFPO owned and run by the indigenous community of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. They produce a range of products including honey, beeswax, soapnuts, coffee, pepper, silk and millet.
• Last Forest Enterprises Pvt Limited, a social enterprise established in 2010 which connects indigenous products to markets, for example, through their fairtrade Green Shop retail outlets. 

Together, over the years, these three organisations have worked closely to boost local incomes through fair pricing and elevating the value of products. They have also increased the involvement of indigenous women and young people in conservation, and established sustainable harvesting guidelines. 

Hands-on experience

Throughout the action-packed four-day visit, participants took part in a mixture of practical class-based training and field visits. 

Topics included integrating sustainable practices and technology into the supply chain; creating branding strategies; and implementing innovative community-based certification systems such as the Participatory Guarantee System. This community-based organic certification process ensures affordable and effective validation for smallholder farmers of the quality of their products which in turn enhances product credibility and its market value. They also learned about the Forest Rights Act and the World Fair Trade Organization. 

Field visits

To better understand women-led production models, explore sustainable agroforestry practices, and see first-hand the role of indigenous knowledge in forest-based economies, the group visited Aadhimalai production centre in Bangalapadigai. Here, they met with met with producers and processors and witnessed agroforestry practices – such as black pepper and soapnuts being grown in between the coffee crops.

As Ganga Kumari Gurung, Chairperson of Shantinagari Community Forestry Users Group said, “I learned from this visit that all agroforestry products here are of good quality. The community base is very good, like the indigenous communities of Nepal. Livelihoods are being enhanced and Aadhimalai is providing employment opportunities.”

The group also visited a second Aadhimalai production centre, located in Pudukkad, where beeswax-based value added personal care products are made, such as lip balms and soaps. The centre is led by women who shared their stories of empowerment and resilience, explaining how women rose to leadership and how they manage the functioning of a complete centre. 

At the Green Shop in Coonoor, run by Last Forest Enterprises, the group examined operational and retail aspects of business. They learned the value of having a shop in a popular tourist location where visitors will pay a good price for local products, and the importance of telling the story of your product through colours, photographs and memorable phrases to ensure brand recall.

Visiting the Honey Unit of Last Forest Enterprises, the group observed how wild honey varieties are processed and stored and how technology and automation can improve production processes. They also saw how attractive packaging and labelling can enhance the value of a product. 

Insights to share back home

The group returned to Nepal, armed with a myriad of insights to share with their communities. In particular, they recognized that actively involving women in processing, packaging, branding, and marketing could be a strategy they could replicate back home to promote gender inclusion and economic empowerment. 

Participants also identified the Participatory Guarantee System for organic certification as a valuable tool in providing consumer assurance, and that establishing links between community forestry user groups and private companies or social enterprises would be essential for connecting farm and forest products to markets. 

Other strategies they were keen to replicate included fostering collective and group communication, utilizing local resources, and leveraging indigenous and traditional skills to increase the value chain of raw products and non-timber forest products. 

As this trip showed, peer-to-peer visits provide invaluble opportunities to build capacity, share good practice and make connections – not just between organizations but between countries too.