juniper plant has existed and been used by humans in Asia and Northern Africa since ancient
civilizations; its medicinal uses and oil were utilized by ancient peoples and it has continued to
be an important cultural medicine (Shrestha, 2014).
The juniper plant holds significant potential as a commercial product for Nepal. The
juniper plant is a high altitude plant and grows on hilltops and mountainsides. This makes the
plant ideal for the hillside farmers of Nepal. It is a shrub plant and does not grow very tall. The
processing of the plant into oil requires steam, which extracts oil from the berries, needles, and
twigs (Milojevic, 2008). Therefore there is a very low work load, because Nepalese farmers
do not have to extract the specific berries. The production of the oil utilizes the whole plant.
The juniper plant is a highly resistant and common crop. As a result the plant would be easily
obtainable by Nepalese farmers at a low cost (Shrestha, 2014).
The juniper plant relies on wind pollination. This is highly advantageous for Nepalese
hillside farmers because the wind is harder and faster higher up the hillsides. As a result of
being a shrub plant, the roots of the juniper plant do not grow very deep, but grow laterally. This
would help reduce the amount of erosion and the loss of valuable soil on the Nepalese hillsides.
The oil is steamed refined which creates minimal ecological repercussions (Milojevic, 2008).
As well, this method requires some rudimentary distilling equipment (Milojevic, 2008) which is
potentially easy for subsistence farmers to obtain. The labour required to harvest the plant and
distil the oil is surprisingly low. As a result of being able to distill the berries, needles and twigs,
the harvesting of the juniper plant requires not much more work than simply pruning the plants.
Simple pruning tools can be used to harvest parts of the plant necessary for distilling. The
distilling of the juniper plant is simple in practice, but does require some education. It requires
to be steamed which is simple enough, however depending on the genotype there are specific
water-plant ratios that need to be adhered to (Milojevic, 2008). This can be problematic if the
Nepalese farmers are not able to access this information, and would have to go through a
practice of trial and error to find the correct ratios.
An issue with the juniper plant lies in biodiversity. Juniper is an immensely common
plant. This acts in a good way and a negative way: it makes the plant cheap and readily
available for Nepalese farmers, but at the same time does not promote the biodiversity of the
region and could risk an overpopulation of the plant (Baniya, 2009). What the plant would lack in
promoting biodiversity, it would allow for the continuation of local culture. The juniper plant holds
significance to many indigenous farmers and communities because of its homeopathic benefits
(Shrestha, 2014). As brought up earlier, the juniper plant had been used medicinally for
generations. This means that the juniper has a history deeply rooted in indigenous culture and
by supporting the cultivation and production of juniper oil would not encroach or negatively
affect the cultures of Nepalese culture.
The inputs required for the production of juniper oil for exportation include materials
required for distillation which included various pots, pans, and a method to capture steam
(Milojevic, 2008). These materials individually are cost-efficient, but the purchasing of
everything required to create juniper would be an investment.
The juniper oil has many proven health benefits. The needles can be used in the making
of herbal teas that are easy to brew, and are rich in various vitamins and nutrients (Gavini,
2005). Nepalese have used this as a method of remedying illness. The oils have multiple health
benefits, including the ability to be used as an antiseptic (Gavini, 2005). As well the oils can be
used to create incense which has health benefits for the emotional state of people. These
benefits, along with improving blood circulation and urination, make the juniper plant and juniper
oil rich with health benefits that can benefit the foreign market as well as the Nepalese farmers
who grow the plant (Gavini, 2005).
In Nepal, juniper would economically benefit mainly the hillside farmers that would be
the main proprietors of the juniper oil. Growing the plant would allow them to sell to a wide
foreign market allowing for money to flow into the community. The materials used in the distilling
of the plant could also be used in other communal activities, making the purchasing of the
materials a good economic decision for the communities (Milojevic, 2008). As a result there
would be more money flowing directly to the Nepalese farmers allowing them to increase the
standard of living in the hillside communities. A problem with the harvesting of the crop would
be the workload for women. The harvesting requires a lot of bending over because this crop is
low to the ground. As a result the women who do the harvesting would have a heavy stress on
their backs and necks. A long reaching harvesting tool would be deeply beneficial to the
women's health, but adds to the cost of the already relatively high start up cost of creating
juniper oil.
Bibliography
Baniya, C. (2009). Temporal changes in species diversity and composition in abandoned
fields in a trans-Himalayan landscape, Nepal. Plant Ecol, 201, 383-399.
Gavini, E., & Sanna, V. (2005). Solid Lipid Microparticles (SLM) Containing Juniper Oil as
Anti-Acne Topical Carriers: Preliminary Studies.Pharmaceutical Development and
Technology, 10, 479-487.
Milojevic, S. (2008). Kinetics of distillation of essential oil from comminuted ripe juniper
(Juniperus communis L.) berries. Biochemical Engineering Journal, 39, 547-553.
Shrestha, N. (2014). Ethnomedicinal practices in the highlands of central Nepal: A case study
of Syaphru and Langtang village in Rasuwa district.Journal of Ethnopharmacology.