THE YAKHA: CULTURE, ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT IN ...

when his parents died, was granted 10,000 NRs (about £200) by the
government to rebuild his house after the 1988 earthquake, and used some
of this money to buy 500 cardamom seedlings (at 1 NRs - 2p - each). The
risk element on investments such as this, in terms of fluctuations in
market price, loomed large during the 'trade and transit' dispute with
India in 1989, when the price of a man (about 40kg) suddenly dropped by
10% to 2600 NRs, One man we spoke to was planning ways of getting his
crop to Siliguri in India, where he had heard a man could fetch 3800
Indian rupees (about 5600 NRs, about £112>,
Dahal also asks why cardamom growing has not taken off in other
areas with similar environments, marketing facilities and population
growth rates to Ilam district. In the case of Tamaphok, it appeared
that knowledge of success with cardamom in neighbouring places with
which Tamaphok could be directly compared (such as Madi Nulkharka,
across the valley) was the major reason the innovation was introduced.
Another factor Dahal does not mention is the presence in the community
of people with the necessary capital and land holdings to put the idea
of growing cardamom into practice, The history of involvement with
India (as the next chapter will demonstrate! may also have been a
factor.
The increased production of cardamom over the previous ten years had
important implications for forest cover, since the shade requirements of
the crop had led to the replanting of forests and the more dense
coverage of denuded areas, lJt is was the tree most common!y planted for
this task, Since these al6i-ci b6ri were generally not far from human
habitation, they were becoming most useful to people as a source of fuel
and fodder. Although the poorer sections of the community were not able