Sustainability of Rural Supply Chains in Nepal: Selection, Characterization, and Labelling of Spices for the Local Market

The agricultural sector plays a major role in Nepal’s economy, contributing approximately one third of the country’s gross domestic product. Although subsistence farming still dominates agricultural production, the proportion of farmland used for the production of high-value crops such as spices increased by 24% in this last decade. However, Nepal has not yet been able to establish direct trade relationships with buyers in potential destination markets. This chapter focuses on the project “Spices and sEEDs value chain improvement for rural development in Nepal, enhancing women and youth empowerment,” implemented by the ASIA non-governmental organization (NGO) and funded by AICS. The project aims to support small-scale farmers by improving agricultural production and the sale of seeds and spices of high commercial value. The work focuses on the sustainability of the rural supply chain of Nepali spices, and the actions carried out aim to describe the action research carried out by ARCO PIN-Unifi to introduce upgrading in the processes of selection, preservation, and packaging/labelling of the selected spices. Spectrophotometric analysis is also carried out for the evaluation of polyphenols, flavonoids, and antioxidant activity to enhance the functional value of spices and for the preparation of data sheets, which are also useful for the possible export of the product.