Langtang cheese and ecological integrity

The production of cheese has been regarded as one of the few rural successes of the Nepali Government´s development programme. One of the main areas of this success has been the Langtang region north of Kathmandu. The Langtang valley, a National Park in 1977, has two cheese “factories” that produce a total of i4,000 kg of cheese a year. The two units collect about 140,000 litres of milk annually and process it into cheese.

The cheese production in Lang tang, centred in the villages of Syabru and Langtang, each with population of about 500, has brought with it severe challenges. The introduction of cash economy into the highland communities has made the use of the natural resources unsustainable. The impact on the area´s wildlife has been especially worrisome.

AttheequivalentofU$4.30perkg,thecost of cheese in Kathmandu is too expensive for most Nepalis, whereas it is relatively cheap by the standards of the urban expatriate community and Western tourists. Because cheese production: is ruining the natural environment of the upper Langtang Valley, the ideal response would be to produce Jess cheese, but raise its price. The Langtang income from cheese would not dip, while the enormous pressures on the environment would be lessened.

The increased price of cheese will have little impact on the upscale market but would translate into a substantial benefit to the farmers, whose grazing activity must be made more sustainable. The red panda and other wildlife in the park would also win back some of their habitat which has been taken over by ever increasing numbers,the yak and hill-cow crossbreeds which is the livestock of choice in Langtang.

CHEESE AND CHAURI
Historically, milk produced in excess of family needs was processed by traditional methods into butter, chhurpi (protein extracted from buttermilk) and other products .These were bartered in Tibet in exchange for salt, sheep and goats, and ornaments.

The Kathmandu-based Dairy Development Corporation (DDC) first introduced cheese in Langtang in 1953, with technical assistance from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Later, the Swiss Association for Technical Assistance (S ATA) helped establish permanent cheese production units.
The DDC has been run independently since 1964. Its two Langtang cheese producing locations are at Kyangin (3,840 m, for the cattle of Langtang village) and Sing Gompa (3,254 m, for Syabm), These two units produce about 20 per cent of the approximately 71,000 kg of cheese processed yearly in the mountains of Nepal.

Cheese production in Langtang Valley has been heralded as “very successful” because of a good initial marketing strategy and a smooth transition from Swiss to Nepali management. Still, how sustainable are the benefits?

The Kyangin unit was permitted by flie park authorities to use 46,000 kg of fuel wood annually, but a recent study on its environmental impact indicated that it is using over 100,000 kg of fuelwood, much of it from live trees near the Ireeline, The villagers use 169,000kg and tourists and their porters use 44,000 kg, yielding a total of 313,000 kg of firewood consumed annually.

The annual regeneration of the upper Langtang Valley forest is estimated at 213,000 kg, which means that about 100,000 kg of wood is over-harvested each year.

In theory, cheese-making in Langtang is 25 per cent more efficient in its energy requirement than the traditional method of making butter and buttermilk. In practice, the modern method uses up more firewood because additional fuel is required for the cooking and heating requirements of the non-local cheese factory staff. Per capita consumption of wood by the non-local workers is 3.5 times greater than the average consumption by Kyangin villagers, presumably because the former can afford keep their dwellings warmer.

The cheese operation has also led to increased exploitation of the forest by large numbers aichauri. Each of the two units collects milk from a 50 sq km area, where depots are shifted at least eight times a year to different elevations, following the herds. Because the chauri move through the forests and pastures between 3,000 and 5,000 m, the grazing area is degraded throughout. Larger trees are not affected by grazing, but regeneration of fir, mountain-ash, juniper and rhododendron seedlings and samplings is inhibited by browsing cattle. The damage is exacerbated as the chauri trample on vegetation and compact the soil.

Inadequate supply of fodder during the diy season results in poorly nourished chauri, low fertility, and poor milk productivity. Thus, cheese production has left upper Langtang with a high density of under-nourished livestock, destructive grazing, and habitat degradation.

CHEESE AND WILDLIFE
While in the past livestock used to share the Langtang Valley with herbivores, today chauri have largely replaced musk deer, barking deer, tahr and serow during the monsoon grazing period. Large carnivores such as leopard and wild dog are still present, though they are discreetly persecuted (against park regulations) In the absence of wild herbivores, they tend to prey on livestock.
The greatest impact of grazing, however, seems to be on the red panda. A “rare habitat specialist”, the species seems about to disappear altogether from Langtang — there are probably no more than 40 of the animals remaining in the entire Park.

The red panda´s preferred habitat is the fir-bamboo forest between 2,800 m and 3,900 m (which makes up only about six per cent of the protected area). The presence of chauri, the herders and their dogs have clearly been detrimental to the pandas. Many are killed due to human-related causes. The extinction of the red panda {Ailuridae) in Langtang would be extremely worrisome because this species is the only member of a monotypic sub-family, and because it is direatened throughout its range in the Himalaya.

KATHMANDU CONNOISSEURS
Livestock loans comprise about 80 per cent of all loans given in the Langtang area by the Agricultural Development Bank in Kathmandu. The Bank favours investing in livestock because crop investments are riskier and require a longer time for payback.

The DDC ensures its milk supply by providing the fanners one-year advance paymentsfor their milk. The payments are the sole source of cash for many Langtang households, and the  financial commit-
mentprecludes other options    for  subsistence farmers.Moreover, the system encourages a few wealthy fanners who can afford to acquire large herds to over-exploit the common grazing lands.
Despite the loans, advance payments, pasture development, and the availability of unrestricted amounts of fuelwood to process milk, the DDC´s Langtang cheese units have not been able to achieve their projected production. Actually, the criteria used to set the original target seem to have been arbitrary. About 8,000 kg a year was the goal set for Sing Gompa, which produces about 6,600 kg. Unfortunately, the shortfall creates an incentive to further increase chauri herds, which further worsens the effects of over-grazing.

Production of a commodity such as cheese is not all economics. It is based on a renewable natural resource—grazing lands—and for that reason the production targets should be defined with a commitment not to degrade the environment.

The DDC has one probable solution, which would no t deprive the villagers of Langtang and would save the environment of the valley. The solution is to lower the production targets. The number of chauri in the upper Langtang Valley must be brought .down while commensurately increasing the prices paid to the dairy fanners. Above all, the fanners´ incomes must not be affected.

While some urban Nepalis have been introduced to cheese, the product is not part of the average Nepali diet. Indeed, even the proportion of calories that Nepalis receive from traditional milk products such as butter and gltiu is said to be less than five per cent Cheese is sold in Kathmandu to Western tourists, expatriates and locals either as it is, or in pizza, cheese-sandwiches or lasagna. Since mountain, cheese (locally called “yak cheese´^ remains out of the reach of most Nepalis, and because is cheaper than most North American and European brands, its price could be increased significantly without affecting demand.

“Sustainable development” in Upper Langtang requires an understanding of what is possible and what is not. The goal is to provide a lasting and secure livelihood for Langtang villagers to minimise the effects of resource depletion, environmental degradation and social instability. Many developers believe mat the Nepal Himalaya can benefit from even more intensive dairy farming and marketing. B ut while making economic targets we cannot forget that high mountains have short growing seasons, season-specific rainfall, and extreme temperatures* The vegetation is extremely sensitive to disturbance.

Langtang´s natural wealth is much too valuable as a resource for the local population and as habitat for the local wildlife for it to be destroyed to feed well-to-do Kathmandu residents with cheese at throwaway prices. Raising the price, reducing the chauri herds, and maintaining the income level of the locals, is the only way ahead.