The survey which was conducted for the first time in the Himalayan country states that the coffee farmers and entrepreneurs produce 1,573 metric tons of fresh cherry annually in 973 hectares of land.
"The coffee survey conducted in the fiscal year 2075-2076 and its output helps to analyze the current situation and to formulate necessary policies and programs for the development of commercial coffee industry," Information Officer at CBS Tirtha Raj Chaulagain told Xinhua.
Those who have planted at least 50 coffee plants have only been regarded as the commercial coffee farmer in the survey, the officer said.
Nepal mostly produces Arabica coffee at an elevation of 800 to 1,600 meters. According to the data, 96 percent of the total farmers are producing coffee in an organic method, while in total 9 percent are doing farming through firm, 34 percent through cooperatives and companies and 57 percent without any authentication.
The survey has been done at a time when the global demand of Nepali coffee has been increasing in the recent years. Though produced coffee is consumed highly in domestic market, the South Asian country exports coffee mostly to Japan, Korea, European countries and the United States.
According to National Tea and Coffee Development Board, coffee cultivation is suitable in more than one million hectares of land in Nepal, however it has not been tapped well.
"Nepal produced a total of 513 metric tons of coffee in the fiscal year 2017-2018, while the domestic demand stands at 7,000 metric tons. There is a huge gap between production and supplies," Gaurab Luitel, officer at the board, told Xinhua in a recent interview.
He said that commercial coffee farming is struggling to expand in lack of technical knowledge and use of traditional method instead of modern technologies.
He also said that the government should put more investment while the private sector should also join hands to grow coffee in a large scale in order to make the coffee industry sustainable.
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