Press

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

“In Bhutan, Mountain Hazelnuts works primarily with women and poor farmers in the country's underdeveloped East, providing free saplings and technical assistance, including a traceability system that assesses land quality and monitors soil health.”

"In 2008, Teresa Law and Daniel Spitzer founded Mountain Hazelnuts in Bhutan, working with mountain communities with limited income generating opportunities. It is now the biggest private-sector employer in the country." 

"Bhutan is opening up to foreign investment. Its first 100% foreign-owned company is tapping into global demand for hazelnuts, and bringing new sources of income to mountain communities" 

"Asian Development Bank - CNBC Deal of the Year! The award for Best Corporate Finance Transaction went to Mountain Hazelnuts, a firm which is developing an inclusive and environmentally sustainable hazelnut value chain in Bhutan.” 

"The project allows participating farmers to significantly increase their income by selling hazelnuts. Mountain Hazelnuts will also provide farmers with access to global knowledge and best practices. Mountain Hazelnuts’ business model is simple but promises significant development impact." 

“Mountain Hazelnuts has integrated more than 5,000 women-led farming households in its value chain… [The Company] takes a holistic approach to address household income generation, community development, cultural preservation, local ecosystems, and global climate change.” 

"Is hazelnut the new treasure of Bhutan? Tucked between China and India, Bhutan is a small landlocked country of 750,000 inhabitants, better known for its dramatic landscapes, deep-rooted spiritual culture and Gross National Happiness (GNH) Index than for its production of hazelnuts." 

"The farmers also use smart phones and ICT to communicate with Mountain Hazelnuts staff. More than half of the farmers have smart phones, although not all of them are literate. Thus, the company uses voice messaging and video-recording functions of a Social Network Service (SNS) to communicate with farmers. " 

"This unusual partnership between a small Bhutanese start up and a Buddhist nun is representative of a new trend in development financing known as ‘blended finance’— the mixing of public, philanthropic and private capital in emerging and frontier markets." 

"If Mountain Hazelnut hits its target of 15,000 farming households averaging 6 members each, it will directly affect about 15% of Bhutan's population. Achieving that goal would make a serious dent in Bhutan's rural poverty." 

“Mountain Hazelnuts is deeply committed to ensuring the success of our farmer partners, which include nunneries, monasteries, and schools. Mountain Hazelnuts is [expanding] on its social and environmental initiatives, raising the financial literacy of women farmers and studying ways of increasing climate resilience"

“Mountain Hazelnuts is using off-the-shelf technology such as Android phones, barcode scanners, and MySQL databases to build a tech-savvy sustainable, culturally cohesive nut-growing business in collaboration with villages in mountainous Bhutan."

“Mountain Hazelnuts is using off-the-shelf technology such as Android phones, barcode scanners, and MySQL databases to build a tech-savvy sustainable, culturally cohesive nut-growing business in collaboration with villages in mountainous Bhutan."

NATIONAL PRESS

"The future of Bhutanese hazelnut is secure” 

http://rmt.mountainhazelnuts.com/rmtUploadedData/mhMediaLibrary/mhv202104261619409089.pdf

"Mountain Hazelnuts has started to train over 150 staff in hazelnut grafting and plans to implant one million grafts in the eastern dzongkhags of Trashigang, Mongar, Lhuntse, and Pema-gatshel from this month." 

http://rmt.mountainhazelnuts.com/rmtUploadedData/mhPress/190219_Kuensel.pdf

"Hazelnut growers across the country are optimistic as they begin to see the results of Mountain Hazelnuts’ grafting program. Three months after the first grafts were made, significant growth from the grafted stems are being reported in all 15 dzongkhags where the program took place and growers are confident they will see large harvests in the years ahead." 

http://rmt.mountainhazelnuts.com/rmtUploadedData/mhPress/190707%20The%20Journalist_When%20nuts%20become%20gold.pdf

“Bhutan will begin hazelnuts export from next year. Mountain Hazelnuts has projected over 500,000 kilograms of hazelnuts to be exported in China and Europe. With many plants past fruit-bearing stage, farmers of Trashigang are expected to produce the largest quantity next year.” 

http://www.bbs.bt/news/?p=62336

“More than a year after being planted, hazelnut trees in some parts of Chukha are showing progressive growth and leading to high hopes among growers.” 

https://kuenselonline.com/high-hopes-for-hazelnut-growers-in-chukha/

"In a modest tent with banners on orchard management and TV screens displaying different agricultural videos, a team from Mountain Hazelnuts is actively engagged with a group of local farmers and explaining them about the management and the socio-economic benefits of growing the nut." 

http://rmt.mountainhazelnuts.com/rmtUploadedData/mhPress/bhutantodaynov.pdf

"Farmers in Dunggoen in Radhi, Trashigang are finally harvesting nuts for the first time from the Hazelnut trees that they have planted in over 100 acres of land in the community." 

http://rmt.mountainhazelnuts.com/rmtUploadedData/mhPress/190929%20Bhutan%20Today%20English.pdf

"Mountain Hazelnut Venture Private Limited (MHVPL), Bhutan’s first 100% FDI Company, has over the years made significant progress in uplifting the lives and income of rural farmers and thousands who are engaged in hazelnut farming." 

http://rmt.mountainhazelnuts.com/rmtUploadedData/mhPress/The%20Journalist%2017th%20March%202019.pdf

“Unlike potato and apples, hazelnuts are relatively damage-proof and aren’t as perishable. Best of all, Bhutanese farmers will link into the international market economy without having to move from where they are.” 

https://web.archive.org/web/20150624090957/http://bhutanobserver.bt/6276-bo-news-about-bhutan_growing_nuts_or_going_nuts.aspx