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Abstract
There is a huge trade in medicinal plants in South Asia. This paper investigates whether it is
possible to talk to medicinal plant harvesters and traders involved in the medicinal plant
market in Nepal and India in order to be able to conduct a net marketing margin analysis.
Using a marketing chain approach, data was collected through open-ended questionnaires
administered to harvesters (n = 639) and traders (n = 166) in 15 districts in Nepal, central
wholesalers (n = 90) throughout the country, and regional wholesalers (n = 53) in India. Basic
distributional statistics indicate that actors’ own-reported data is consistent and thus useful for
further analysis. Net marketing margin analysis indicated pricing inefficiency in the market,
with local traders operating with very low net margins.