Kanyadi Magar Bheja is a Magar customary institution at Tinau Rural Municipality-5, Koldanda, Palpa, Lumbini Province, awarded a second-batch DGM Nepal competitive small grant. Its sub-project cultivates tejpat, Indian bay leaf from Cinnamomum tamala, as a non-timber forest product enterprise. Tejpat is a perennial mid-hill tree harvested for its aromatic leaves and bark, both traded into Nepal’s spice market and exported, and it suits Palpa’s hill conditions well. Harvesting leaves does not kill the tree, so a well-managed tejpat stand yields income for decades while adding permanent forest cover. Grant funds are expected to cover quality seedlings, plantation on bheja and member land, drying and grading facilities to meet buyer specifications, and training in cultivation, harvesting and marketing. Cultivating tejpat rather than stripping wild trees also reduces pressure on natural stands. Channelling the enterprise through the bheja reinforces DGM Nepal’s aim of strengthening Indigenous customary institutions.
