Barley is a member of the weed family and is one of the major grains grown in temperate climates worldwide. Barley is one of the first crops to be domesticated for human consumption. It remains one of the major cereal crops grown in the world: barley is grown on every continent where crops are grown. It adapts well to various environmental conditions and is therefore produced through a wider geographical distribution than most other grains. For other cereal crops, barley ranks fourth in total cereal production. The barley grain enters the human food chain in distinctly different ways. First, barley is used as animal feed and thus indirectly contributes to the human diet indirectly through meat production. Second, barley acts as a substrate for the production of alcoholic beverages, especially beer. Third, a small amount of barley is used to produce a variety of nutrients.
Barley is grown from Terai to a height of 4000 meters in Nepal, but it is a staple food crop mainly in the hills and mountains in the west of the country. The production of barley is high in Russia in compare to other country. There are many benifits of barley some of them are it helps in weight loss, it helps to control blood suger level, improve insulin response, reducing risk of diabetes, helps to reduce blood pressure, improves lipid profile, reduce cholesterol and high in potassium and low in sodium and fat. In Kathmandu the price of one kg barley flour is rs 170 and the price of barley grain seed of 500 gm is Rs 55.