Benefits to Rural Communities

Mountain Hazelnuts is committed to generating income and improving livelihoods for rural communities, addressing the challenges of generating sustainable cash flow while living in remote mountain areas. A secure income from hazelnuts has positive spillover effects on education, gender equality, continuity of traditional lifestyles, and rural development.

Social Impact Goals

• Double the income of smallholder partners, alleviating rural poverty and slowing rural-to-urban migration

• Ensure that women comprise approximately half of MH staff at all levels, from community lead growers through the executive team

• Economically impact Bhutan’s rural population through orchard cultivation and the hazelnut value-chain, including processing and the provision of goods and services

• Establish poverty alleviation, environmental rehabilitation, and cultural preservation programs by contributing a portion of free cash flow into grower profit share program.

• Generate tax revenues for the Royal Government of Bhutan 

SUSTAINABLE LONG-TERM INCOME

Hazelnut farming provides an opportunity for rural farmers to generate cash in addition to the crops they currently cultivate. It is expected that by planting an average-sized orchard, a hazelnut farmer will double household income. Hazelnut cultivation is a long-term strategy: well-tended trees produce nuts and generate income for fifty years. Most other potential cash crops require significant upfront cash investments and bear high risks due to market fluctuations. By contrast, hazelnut seedlings are delivered to farmers at no cost. Farmers can plan their future on the basis of a 30-year contract, rather than face pricing risk on commodity markets.

SUPPORTING FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES

Most farmers express their goal of providing a better education and future for the next generation with the income from hazelnuts. Caring for and harvesting hazelnuts does not require heavy manual labor, therefore female and elderly farmers can take on this work. Hazelnut farming may offer an ideal source of income (and use of labor) for such households.

READ ABOUT MOUNTAIN HAZELNUT FARMERS: