Dharan (Sunsari), 29 March: Three youths from Dholbajiya, Barahakshetra Municipality-9 here, who have returned from foreign employment, have run a collective agricultural farm. Locals Amir Niraula, Raghubir Chandrabanshi and Chhabilal Chaudhary have run the collective agricultural farm.
They started commercial agriculture with the aim of becoming self-employed and self-reliant in their own country and are earning income by investing the money they earned abroad in their own country. Amir and Raghubir returned after working in South Korea for five years, while Chhabilal returned after working in Afghanistan. They were also working in the agricultural sector abroad. Amir Niraula, one of the three who started their business in their own country by utilizing the skills they learned abroad, said.
They had registered Sundar agricultural farm in 2074 BS(2018). Initially, they planted vegetables on 20 bighas of land using modern technology. Niraula said that they are earning a good income by producing vegetables using organic fertilizers. He said, “The business, which was initially started with an investment of Rs 600,000, has now grown. Although there were problems with investment, land and market access in the beginning, it has become very easy due to government grants from the municipality and support from various organizations, as well as digital marketing.”
Raghubir Chandravanshi says that there is potential in the country if foreign experience and skills can be utilized domestically. He has planted cucumbers in four bighas of land, tomatoes in three bighas, capsicum in one bighas, and seasonal vegetables including bodi, bitter gourd, gourd, and cabbage in the remaining 12 bighas. Amir Niraula, one of the farm operators, said, “Vegetables worth Rs. 10 million are sold annually, but the annual expenditure on fertilizers and employee salaries in vegetable farming is around Rs. 7 million, so by deducting all expenses, we can save between Rs. 2 million and Rs. 3 million.”
According to him, 20 people, apart from the operator, have been employed at the farm. The farm produces the most cucumbers and tomatoes. Traders themselves come to the farm to purchase the produce.
They said that the two-day flood that occurred last October submerged seven bighas of land, causing a loss of more than Rs. 3.5 million. Chhabilal Chaudhary, one of the operators, said that most of the vegetables produced here are taken by traders to Damak in Jhapa for sale. The remaining vegetables are taken to local markets such as Dharan’s agricultural produce, Itahari, Inaruwa, Dhankuta and Barahakshetra. Although agriculture requires a lot of hard work, they have the experience that there is no significant loss as vegetables are produced according to the season.
The municipality has provided ‘mini tillers’ as a grant. It has also provided fertilizer and seed subsidies, which has helped reduce the cost of agricultural production. Mayor Ramesh Karki said that due to irrigation facilities and availability of fertilizers in the Barah area, vegetable production is high within the city. About 70 percent of households within the Barah area are involved in vegetable farming. He said, “Barah area is considered fertile and famous for vegetable farming and there is no problem of marketing, so the farmers here are attracted to vegetable farming.”
Every year, the municipality has been providing subsidies for organic vegetable farming, investment assistance for livestock farmers, irrigation facilities, facilitation in the marketing of produced goods, and technical consultancy, with the aim of making farmers self-reliant.
