Lokta Paper

Most of Nepal's rural population are subsistence farmers, but among their special handicrafts is fashioning lokta paper. The lokta bush (Daphne bhoua) grows seasonally along the southern range of the Himalaya mountains between six and nine thousand feet and produces sturdy fibers in its bark. The bark regenerates within five years for harvesting again. Collecting and preparing the fibers is very labor intensive. The bark is stripped from the plant, cut, boiled then mashed into a pulp that is then spread out in sheets and dried in the sun.

The paper is very strong and has a supple texture with a warm hue. The paper complements artwork and other crafts, but the Nepali government seeks out the greatest supply of the paper. Since it is so resilient and sturdy the government considers it the best material to use for official documents, such as land titles and permanent records. Buddhist monks also use the sturdy paper for constructing prayer books for monasteries. Until the 1950s all official records were printed on lokta paper with the official red wax seal, and even now birth certificates and land ownership papers still use the material.

The lokta is in high demand but it is a limited renewable resource. The bushes take at least five years to adequately regenerate, and culling the fibers early depletes the healthy plants. The industry also does not reward the poor villagers who work hard to collect and prepare the raw product. They are not skilled to make more developed products and the wholesale buyers consider it to be a raw commodity. The low compensation rate also does not encourage the villagers to conserve and maintain the land and the bushes to ensure continued resources. Additionally, the traditional ways of preparing the fibers involving burning wood to boil the bark affects the trees in the highlands, where the tree growth is already thin from the elevation. Nepal's economy needs some resourceful means to become more prosperous and the small industry of crafts such as lokta paper is one part of that.

[Summarized from broschure: "Lokta - Everything you always wanted to know about Lokta but never got around to asking" from the Yak & Yeti Hotel, Kathmandu]