By Kailash Lama
Charikot, Feb.2: Gaurishankar Rural Municipality in northern Dolakha is famous for its Argeli production. But not just any Argeli, mind you. The Argeli produced here is special, so special that it is used to make the paper for Japanese Yen.
Ramesh Gurung of Hupchi, Gaurishankar–7 is one of the farmers who grows Argeli for Japanese currency and he said that only ‘A’ graded Argeli plants could be used to make the Yen banknotes. “A [graded] plants grow from mid-October to mid-February and are exported to Japan after processing,” he said, adding, “They also fetch higher prices, up to Rs. 550 per kilogram.”
Gurung informed that there were two other grades of Argeli, labelled ‘B’ and ‘C’, which fetched Rs. 200 and Rs. 100 per kilogram respectively.

Gurung steams the Argeli he grows and separates the extract for export. “A graded plants produce dry white extract while other plants produce wet green ones,” he said. “The white ones are the best to make the paper for Yen.”
To grow and steam these plants, Gurung has employed 10 people. He pays them a monthly salary ranging from Rs. 18,000 to Rs. 25,000 depending on their skills and also manages to earn a profit of Rs. 50,000 every month.

Gurung and many other Argeli farmers of the region sell their plants and extracts to an organisation called Kanpau Nepal based in Lalitpur district. Kanpau Nepal removes the sheaths from the steamed extracts they receive and send them to Japan.

“Nepal’s Argeli are considered the best in the world and are highly sought after in Japan,” said Ram Gopal Shrestha, market manager of Kanpau. “The banknotes made from them are durable and do not get damaged by water.”
“Nepali Argeli are also used to make high-quality paper,” he added.
Kanpau Nepal collects Argeli from the farmers of Dolakha, Ramechhap, Ilam, Panchthar and Taplejung.