Myagdi. Rakesh Syangtang, a resident of Arjundhara in Jhapa, who had come to visit Mustang and Myagdi, bought five boxes of timur chutney at Koseli house in Beni. Anushka Tamang of Kavre also took the dust of Timur as a koseli of Myagdi.

“We bought timur when we returned home because it can be used as a spice and has medicinal properties,” Tamang said, adding, “It would be delicious to use as a chutney along with medicine as well as food in case of high altitude during trekking.” ’

Aromatic timur is used as a spice in lentils and chutneys. Meena Ramjali, an entrepreneur from Beni, said that Timur has become the main commodity for tourists to buy and send to relatives in different cities of the country and abroad.

“Timur powder and chutney are the most common things that people buy,” he said. The Timur produced by farmers in the rural areas is brought to the Koseli houses of Beni and sold. Entrepreneurs process timur into powder and sauce and sell it in cans. Depending on the size of the box, the price of the powder and sauce of the timur is different.

Sagar Baniya, a local of Beni Municipality-9, who has been involved in the business of Timur, said that Timur is sold in hotels in Mustang, Pokhara, Kathmandu, Chitwan among other cities and in Japan, Belgium, Korea and the United States.

Around 150 families from Toripani, Dhawa, Dhupibot and Dholthan of Beni-9 are engaged in commercial timur farming. According to Baniya, around 50 muris are estimated to have been produced this year.

Timur farming is done in 25 hectares of land in Myagdi, according to the Division Forest Office. Timur is cultivated mostly in Beni-9 district. According to the data of the Forest Division, around six metric tons of timur is produced in Myagdi annually.

According to Chandramani Sapkota, forest officer at the Division Forest Office, Myagdi, Timur is a spicy fruit with medicinal properties. He said that Timur is also used as an Ayurvedic medicine for the control of high blood pressure, protection of liver and teeth, and removal of ‘food poisoning’.

In the last few years, farmers who used to harvest timur in the months of July and August have been harvesting timur from the last week of October for quality produce. Jamuna Rai, a local of Dhawa, said that the production of timur has increased this year due to favourable weather and no hailstorm. Some farmers here have also started commercial production after they started earning income by selling timur seeds planted for private use in their farms.

Nar Bahadur Rai, a farmer, said that he helped manage his household expenses by selling timur that has been set up as a fence in the fields. The Division Forest Office, Land and Watershed Conservation Office, local levels and various organizations have been distributing saplings to the district. Myagdi Chamber of Commerce and Industry has been promoting Timur as the main product of the district.