Birtamod (26th to 28th Feb 2008) - Cardamom merchants

Visited several cardamom merchants in Birtamod. One of the richest cardamom buyers in the village up in Taplejung regularly comes all the way down to Birtamod to negotiate prices and conditions for sale. Birtamod is one of the largest centres for collection, and distribution of cardamom in Nepal.


Scooping up cardamom pods for packaging.


Removing the "tails" on each cardamom pod and winnowing off the dust. These women earn 3 rupees per kilo of hand cut cardamom pods...


Storage of cardamom sacks


Bringing cardamom sacks (each weighing some 40 kg) to the merchants


The transport bike goes vertical