Participatory resource assessment of Aegle marmelos was carried out in six 
community forests (CFs) of the Jamune VDC of Tanahun district to find out potentiality 
for establishing community-based A. marmelos processing enterprise in the locality. 
Circular sample plots of 500 square meters were laid down taking 5% sampling 
intensity. The DBH (Diameter at Breast Height) and height of trees on the sample 
plots were measured and classified them into three DBH classes (10–20 cm, 20–30 
cm and more than 30 cm). The number of the fruits on the three branches of each 
A. marmelos tree – one lower branch, one middle branch and one top branch were 
counted, the average number of fruits on the three branches calculated and multiplied 
with the number of the branches of the tree to find out the average number of fruits 
per tree. By calculating the weighted mean of the three different DBH-class trees, the 
total number of the fruits was estimated. The study found 54,830 kg of harvestable 
amount of A. marmelos fruit in the studied six CFs which can produce 19190.5 kg of 
pulp per year. Thus, establishment of juice processing enterprise was found to be 
feasible in the locality. Nevertheless, some shortcomings related to the management 
of A. marmelos resource, such as lacking of information and management options 
for A. marmelos trees in the Operation Plans (OPs), lower regeneration status of 
A. marmelos trees, higher incidences of forest-fire and open grazing in the CFs, 
were also recorded. The study suggests for carrying out awareness-generating 
activities targeted to the CF user group members, revision of OPs and incorporation 
of A. marmelos resource information and management options and preparation and 
implementation of regeneration protection plan against forest fire and grazing.

K e y  w or d s :  Aegle marmelos, enterprise, regeneration protection

Resource assessment of Bel (Aegle marmelos) and 
potentiality to establish its processing enterprise in 

Tanahun district of Nepal                       
K. Baral1  and B. R. Upreti2

Aegle marmelos (L.) Correa is a medium-
sized deciduous tree. Its local names are Bel 

(Nepali), Vilva, Biranab (Sanskrit) Bengal queen 
(English) etc. It belongs to the Rutacae family 
and Aurantioideae sub-family. Its branches are 
thorny and the bark is gray in color. The leaves 
are trifoliate with numerous oil glands. Flowers 
of A. marmelos are greenish white and bisexual 
in nature. Flowering starts during April-June, 
fruiting occurs from April to July of next season 
(Parajuli et al., 1998; Kunwar, 2006; Pathak et 
al., 2015). A. marmelos trees are generally found 
in the outer Himalayas, Siwaliks and Tarai with 
altitudes up to 1500 m. In Nepal, A. marmelos 
is distributed abundantly in the Siwalik region, 
Inner Tarai, and lower valley region mostly 
at riverside having sandy soil at 150–1,220 m 

altitude (Shrestha and Shrestha, 2005). It prefers 
comparatively drier and sunny or warmer aspect 
with well-drained loamy soil. It is found growing 
naturally in the mixed stands of Shorea robusta, 
Terminalia tomentosa, Adina cordifolia and so on 
in the Tarai, Bhabar and the Mid-hills. It copes 
with a wide range of soil conditions (pH range 
5–10), is tolerant to water-logging and has an 
unusually wide temperature tolerance (from 7°C 
to 48°C). It requires a pronounced dry season to 
give fruit (Bhattrai, 2001; Poudel, 2005).

A. marmelos has both medicinal and religious 
values. The ripe fruit is taken scientifically as 
brain tonic and energetic, and it improves eternal 
power and longevity. Moreover, it is considered 
as a very good medicine for the patients suffering 

1 District Forest Office, Baitadi, Nepal. E-mail: baralkedar@hotmail.com
2 District Forest Office, Tanahun, Nepal

32



Banko Janakari, Vol. 26, No. 1

33

from constipation. Unripe A. marmelos fruit 
is prescribed for curing cholera, diarrhea, 
worms and other stomach diseases because 
of its antibacterial, antiviral and anthelmintic 
properties. The leaves are excellent medicine 
for the diabetic patients (Shrestha, 2003). 
Furthermore, A. marmelos fruit contains high-
valued chemical compounds including alkaloids, 
coumarone, steroids, mucilage pectin, sugar, and 
tannin whilst the leaves produce an essential oil. 
The fruit has high nutritional value containing 
tonics, vitamins, carbohydrates, proteins, fats and 
a range of medicinal substances (Bhattrai, 2001). 

Juice, jam, candy, sweets and other food products 
can be made from the fruit in addition to a range 
of Ayurvedic medicines. No substance poisonous 
to humans has been found in A. marmelos fruit 
(Poudel, 2005). Juice of the ripen A. marmelos 
fruit has very good market in Nepal and India. 
A. marmelos is identified as a major high- valued 
non-timber forest product (NTFP) which has 
great potentiality to improve the livelihood of 
the Community Forest User Groups (CFUGs) 
members in Nepal. Considering this fact, a few 
A. marmelos juice factories have been established 
in different parts of the nation in the initiation of 
District Forest Offices (DFOs), the Federation of 
Community Forestry Users Nepal (FECOFUN), 
Community Forests (CFs) and other organizations. 
The Tamakoshi Bel Juice Processing Company of 
Eastern Nepal and the Nabadurga Community 
Bel Juice Factory of Bardiya district in Mid-
western Nepal are some successful examples of 
A. marmelos enterprises run by the CFUGs (Baral 
and Khadka, 2007).

The CFs of the Jamune Village Development 
Committee (VDC) of Tanahun district is reported 
to have substantial number of A. marmelos t re e s , 

and the local people are energetic to establish A. 
marmelos processing enterprises to support the 
livelihood of the members. In this regard, the 
current study was carried out in 2014 with the 
objectives of carrying out resource inventory 
of the A. marmelos trees, finding out the total 
number and annual fruiting trees, assessing the 
total and annual harvestable weight of fruits and 
finding out the potential to establish A. marmelos 
processing factory at Jamune VDC of Tanahun 
district by estimating pulp production potential of 
the six CFs.

Materials and methods
Study site                                                      

Tanahun is a hilly district with altitude ranging 
from 187–2,325 m above the mean sea level. 
This district is located between 27o36’ - 28o05’ 
North latitude and between 83o57’ and 84o34’ E 
longitude. The area of the district is 1,560 square 
kilometers out of which the forest area occupies 
50.5% (788 sq. km). Altogether, 545 CFs have 
been handed over to 52,989 households covering 
37689.71 hectares (ha) of forest land in the district 
(DFO, 2014). 

Jamune VDC lies almost at the centre of the 
district. Till now, 12 CFs have been handed over 
to the 1951 households covering 1,105.21 ha of 
forest land in this VDC (DFO, 2014). Among 
them, the six CFs selected for the study purpose 
(Table 1) were reported to have higher number 
of A. marmelos trees, and thus have ample 
potentialities to run the A. marmelos processing 
enterprise. These CFs lie in a cluster which is 
approximately 15 km far from Damauli, the 
district headquarters (Fig. 1).

Baral and Upreti

Table 1: Brief descriptions of the six studied CFs

S.N. Name and address of CFs Total area 
(ha)

Number of 
households Population Reference

1. Poseli CF, Jamune-1 48.75 93 489 CFOP 2008a
2. Barchyang CF, Jamune-2 160.00 93 596 CFOP 2008b
3. Jantang Pandhera CF, Jamune-3 104.90 134 815 CFOP 2008c
4. Bhirpani CF, Jamune-4 124.00 156 930 CFOP 2008d
5. Uma Chwok CF, Jamune-5 94.50 181 996 CFOP 2008e
6. Siddha Batasan CF, Jamune-6 115.7 90 495 CFOP 2008f

Total 647.85 747 4,321



Banko Janakari, Vol. 26, No. 1

34

Fig. 1: Map showing the location of the  
study area

The forests in all the studied CFs are, moreover, 
sub-tropical mixed-hardwoods with S. robusta, 
T. tomentosa, A. cordifolia, Acacia catechu, 
Bombax ceiba, Schima wallichii and Castanopsis 
indica as the major tree species. Apart from A. 
marmelos, other important NTFPs found in the 
CFs are Asparagus racemosus, T. bellirica and 
T. chebula. The major wildlife species found in 
the CFs are leopard, jackal, fox, monkey, rabbit, 
squirrel, civet and jungle cat.

Sampling design

A participatory resource inventory was carried 
out involving the members of the CFUGs and 
the Tanahun DFO field staff. The blocks of the 
studied CFs were stratified into the A. marmelos-
dominant blocks and non- A. marmelos-dominant 
blocks; all the blocks having more than 50% 
A. marmelos trees out of the total trees were 
categorized as A. marmelos-dominant while 
the blocks having less than 50% A. marmelos 
trees were categorized as non- A. marmelos 
-dominant blocks. In course of the stratification 
of the forests into such blocks, full observation 
of the blocks and consultation with the concerned 
CFUG members were done rigorously. In the 
A. marmelos-dominant blocks, inventory was 
carried out following the rules mentioned in the 
NTFPs Inventory Guidelines, 2013 (DoF, 2013). 
In the case of the non-dominant blocks, all the A. 
marmelos trees counted and their measurements 
were taken.

Plot measurement

I.  A. marmelos-dominant blocks

First of all, 5% sample out of the whole area of 
the blocks was taken, and a total of 117 circular 
sample plots of 500 square meters were laid.  
Transect lines were drawn on the map of blocks 
and first sample plot was laid down on the 
starting point of transect line. Remaining sample 
plots were taken on the transect line and plot to 
plot distance was fixed by following the NTFP 
Inventory Guidelines published by Department 
of Forest (2013). Then, the diameters (at breast 
height) and heights of all the A. marmelos t re e s  
were measured and recorded; the A. marmelos 
trees were classified into three diameter (DBH) 
classes viz. 10–20 cm, 20–30 cm and more than 
30 cm. After that, the number of the fruits, on the 
three branches (of each A. marmelos tree)- one 
lower branch, one middle branch and one top 
branch, were harvested, counted and weighed 
separately as per the above mentioned DBH 
classes. Then the pulp content of all the harvested 
fruits were weighed and the average number of 
fruits and their pulp content per tree within each 
of the aforementioned three DBH classes were 
calculated. Finally, the total number of the fruits 
and pulp content of the blocks were found out.

II.  Non-A.marmelos-dominant blocks

In the case of the non-A. marmelos-dominant 
blocks, all the A. marmelos trees were first counted 
and classified into the aforementioned three DBH 
classes. The classified numbers of the trees were 
then multiplied with their corresponding average 
figures per DBH class calculated earlier in the 
case of the A. marmelos-dominant blocks so as to 
find out the total amount of fruits and their pulp.

Results and discussion

Assessment of the fruiting A. marmelos trees

Altogether, 7,832 A. marmelos trees were found 
in the six CFs. Out of this number, only 5,483 
trees (70%) were found to be fruiting, and the 
rest 2,349 (30%) were non-fruiting (Fig. 2). This 
result is similar to those of Baral and Khadka 
(2007) who found 24% non-fruiting A. marmelos 
trees in the CFs of Bardiya district. Most of the 
trees located under the Sal canopy and steep 
sloppy area were found to be non-fruiting.

Baral and Upreti



Banko Janakari, Vol. 26, No. 1

35

Baral and Upreti

Fig. 2: Presence of fruiting and non-fruiting 
trees in the studied CFs

Out of the total area of 647.85 ha of all the six 
CFs, only 117.0 ha (18%) had the A. marmelos 
trees both in the A. marmelos-dominant and 
non-A. marmelos-dominant blocks (Table 2). In 
the case of the dominant blocks, the entire blocks 
were incorporated as effective areas; however in 
the case of the non-A. marmelos-dominant blocks, 
consultation with the concerned CFUG members 
and field observation were done so as to estimate 
their areas. In this regard, the Siddha Batasan CF 
had highest number of A. marmelos trees (1,738)  
whereas the Poseli CF had the least (778 trees). 
On an average, 8 fruiting  A. marmelos t re e s  w e re  
found per ha in the CFs. The maximum number 
of fruits found in a A. marmelos tree was recorded 
as 450 and the minimum as 50. The number of 
seedlings and saplings together was found to be 
almost half the number of mature trees, and only 
33 seedlings and saplings together per hectare 
were observed (Table 2). This indicated the very 
poor regeneration status of A. marmelos trees in 
the studied CFs on the one hand and higher threat 
to the conservation as well as sustainability of the 
species on other hand in this locality.

Availability of A. marmelos fruits and pulp

The weighted mean of A. marmelos fruits in 
different DBH class was found 150. Hence, a 
total number of 822,450 A. marmelos fruits are 
estimated in the six studied CFs which are equal 
to the 137,075 kg at the average rate of 6 fruits 
per kg weight. Likewise, average production of 
fruits was calculated 212 kg per hectares (Table 
3).

Harvesting amount of A. marmelos fruits and 
production of pulp

The total estimated numbers of A. marmelos 
fruits available in the six CFs was 822,450. 
Nevertheless, due to the difficult terrain and 
inaccessibility, large quantity of fruits could not 
be harvested. In the fruiting season, monkeys 
and bears used to damage the fruits.  On the 
other hand, some fruits should be left in the trees 
for full ripening and dispersal so as to promote 
natural regeneration. The CFUG members were 
found to have long experience on A. marmelos 
fruit harvesting. Based on the rigorous discussion 
with the CFUG members who have been actively 
participating in its harvesting, we concluded that 
only 40% of the total fruits could be harvested. 
Hence, the total amount of harvestable A. 
marmelos fruits was estimated to be 328,980 
(54,830 kg). Different literatures (Kunwar, 2006; 
Baral and Khadka, 2007) show that the pure pulp 
is only 35% (on an average) of the total weight of 
the A. marmelos fruits while the remaining 65% 
belong to the bark, fibers, seeds and the wastage. 
Thus, pulp production potential of the six CFs 
was found to be 19,190.5 kg per year (Table 3).

Table 2 : Description of A. marmelos trees in the studied CFs

S.N. Name and address of CFs Total area 
(ha)

Effective 
area (ha)

No. of A. 
marmelos 

trees

No. of 
fruiting 

trees

No. of 
fruiting 
trees /ha

No. of 
seedlings + 

saplings
1. Poseli CF, Jamune-1 48.75 9.0 778 545 11 910
2. Barchyang CF Jamune-2 160.00 32.0 1,340 938 6 520
3. Jyantang Pandhera CF Jamune-3 104.90 18.0 1,330 931 9 610
4. Bhirpani CF Jamune-4 124.00 20.0 1,423 996 8 615
5. UmaChock CF Jamune-5 94.50 15.0 1,223 856 9 460
6 Siddha Batasan CF Jamune-6 115.70 23.0 1,738 1217 11 850
 Total 647.85 117.0 7,832 5,483 8 3,965



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Baral and Upreti

Information deficiency in the CFOPs 

The OPs of the studied CFs were found to have 
resource assessment summary of different tree 
species. However, most of the OPs were found 
to have information gap on A. marmelos and 
other NTFPs although the CFs were reported to 
possess a plenty of these resources. The reason 
behind was that A. marmelos and other NTFPs 
were ignored and higher priorities were given 
to Acacia catechu, Shorea robusta, Terminalia 
tomentosa and other timber-yielding species 
during field inventories. 

Conservation threats 

Poor regeneration due to the higher incidences of 
forest fire and grazing were observed in the CFs, 
which were found to be serious threats for the 
conservation of this species. Besides, the thorny 
nature of this species creates difficulty in carrying 
out its tending and harvesting operations; so, 
some CFUGs were found to have even tendency 
to remove A. marmelos trees from their CFs. 

Availability of A. marmelos trees in the 
adjoining CFs and VDCs

The study was concentrated in the CFs of Jamune 
VDC. However from the discussion with the 
CFUGs, field staffs of DFO and field observation, 
we came to know that plenty of A. marmelos t re e s  
were also found in the CFs of the adjoining VDCs 
such as Kotdarbar, Manpang, Ghansikuwa etc. of 
the district. According to the CFUG members, 
every alternate year is a good seed-year for A. 

marmelos; some literatures (Baral and Khadka, 
2007; Poudel, 2005) also support this fact. 

Perception of different stakeholders

The perception of the major stakeholders was 
found to be extremely positive towards the 
conservation and sustainable use of A. marmelos 
resource to support the livelihood of the CFUGs. 
In this regard, the Tanahun DFO together with 
the FECOFUN/CFUGs and all the other local 
organizations were found to be very much 
committed to playing active role in conservation 
and sustainable use of A. marmelos resource in 
the district.

Conclusion

The CFs of the Jamune VDC were found to be 
rich in the A. marmelos resource; however, there 
was no proper utilization of the resource. The six 
studied CFs were found to have possessed 54,830 
kg annual harvestable amount of A. marmelos 
fruits with the potential of 19,190.5 kg of pulp 
production per year. With this annual production 
amount, the CFUGs can establish a small-scale 
A. marmelos processing enterprise in the locality. 
Moreover, other CFs in the adjoining VDCs 
were also reported to have possessed massive 
numbers of A. marmelos trees. Thus, a higher 
potentiality was observed for the development 
A. marmelos processing enterprise in the locality 
so as to support the livelihood of the CFUG 
members in the Jamune VDC of Tanahun district. 
However, further resource assessment of the 

Table 3: Total and harvestable amount of A. marmelos fruits and pulp

S.N. Name and address 
of CFs

Total amount of A. marmelos fruits Harvestable amount of A. marmelos 
fruits

Total no. 
of fruits

Weight of 
fruits (kg)

Production 
(Kg/ha)

No. available 
for harvesting

Weight of 
fruits (kg)

Pulp content 
(kg)

1. Poseli CF, 
Jamune-1

81,750 13,625 279 32,700 5,450 1,907.5

2. Barchyang CF 
Jamune-2

140,700 23,450 147 56,280 9,380 3283

3. Jyantang Pandhera 
CF Jamune-3

139,650 23,275 222 55,860 9,310 3,258.5

4. Bhirpani CF 
Jamune-4

149,400 24,900 201 59,760 9,960 3486

5. Uma Chock CF 
Jamune-5

128,400 21,400 226 51,360 8,560 2996

6. Siddha Batasan CF 
Jamune-6

182,550 30,425 263 73,020 12,170 4,259.5

 Total 822,450 137,075 212 328,980 54,830 19,190.5



Banko Janakari, Vol. 26, No. 1

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Baral and Upreti

adjoining CFs is necessary to find out the actual 
pulp production potential so as to sustain the 
proposed A. marmelos processing enterprise. 
On the other hand, higher threat to conservation 
of this species has been noticed due to the poor 
regeneration status of this species caused by 
forest fire and open grazing in the studied six 
CFs. Therefore, awareness generating activities 
among the concerned CFUGs should be carried 
out as soon as possible. Besides, preparation and 
implementation of regeneration protection plan 
with forest fire and grazing control activities 
are extremely necessary for management and 
sustainable use of A. marmelos resource in the 
Jamune VDC of Tanahun district.

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Mr. D. R. Gautam together with 
the CARE Nepal, Hariyo Ban Program for their 
financial support to conduct this study. Similarly, 
we are thankful to Mr. R. B. Poudyal (District 
Forest Officer of Tanahun, DFO), Mr. G. Pandey, 
Assistant Forest Officer of Tanahun DFO, B. K. 
Shreshta, Chairman of the Siddha Batasan CF and 
the members of the CFUGs for their kind support 
during the study period.

References

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