VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS OF ORTHODOX TEA IN ILAM DISTRICT OF NEPAL

Despite of the high rate of the orthodox tea, the net margin is still below the satisfactory level. Thus the present research was conducted to analyze the value chain of orthodox tea in Ilam district of Nepal. A total of 160 samples were collected, 80 each from organic and conventional tea growing area. Similarly, 4 tea processing factories and 5 local traders were selected purposely. The major functions involved in the orthodox tea value chain were supplying of the inputs, production, transportation/collection, processing, blending and packaging, exporting and domestic trading. Agro vets and input suppliers supplied required inputs such as saplings, fertilizers and pesticides etc. to the farmers and tea estates. The production of green tea leaves would undergo transportation and collection which was conducted by farmers, tea estates, co-operatives and brokers. Processing, blending and packaging functions were carried out either by tea companies or tea processing factories. Exportation was conducted by tea factories or trading companies whereas domestic trading was conducted by tea factories, wholesaler and retailers. Low farm gate price, high cost of labor and inputs were the major production problems whereas fluctuation in price and lack of marketing information were the major marketing problems from the study.

Climate Adaptation Finance and Justice. A Criteria-Based Assessment of Policy Instruments

Although the international community repetitively pledged considerable amounts of adaptation finance to the global South, only little has been provided so far. Different instruments have been proposed to generate more funding and this paper aims at identifying those that are most suitable to raise adaptation finance in a just way. The instrument assessment is based on the following main criteria: fairness, effectiveness and feasibility. The criteria are applied to four instruments: contributions from domestic budgets, international carbon taxes collected at the national level, border tax adjustments as well as selling emissions allowances in domestic trading schemes. Domestic emission trading schemes and border tax adjustments achieve the best-or rather, the least bad-results. Two further findings are that (feasible) instruments are unable make agents pay for past excessive emissions and that all instruments generate rather small amounts of funding. As a consequence of the latter, adaptation finance will continue to be highly insufficient in all likelihood.