Good Intention Need a Little Push
Ms. Kalpana Devi Bayak-39, a mother of 4 children (3 daughter and 1 son) successfully managing her family of 6 people with the farming of small ruminants at Turmakhad VDC-9, Achham district. Turmakhad is geographically isolated and topographically difficult for any means of development interventions. Hence, majority of her neighbours and the entire community adopts traditional farming practices for the livelihoods subsistence.
Raring of small ruminants and cattle farming is not new for Kalpana and other community people. At the beginning, she had 5-7 goats just for the shake of living with means. Income from the goats was not sufficient and she had to rely on her husband’s work to manage entire family pressure. “I had a tough time to care my kids and send them to school. It was hard choice of life”, as she remember now. Still, her husband is working as a teacher and she is proud of it.
Her story on the commercial goat farming starts when Thulo Community Forest User Group (TCFUG) approached to High Value Agriculture Project (HVAP) on Goat Value Chain Sub-Project with the close coordination and facilitation of WAC Nepal two years ago. Journey of her involvement on various social development activities has begun then after. While being part of such activities, she realized the need of change on her way of living and trend of traditional farming practices. In fact, it was not simply easy for her to adopt goat farming as a means of business not only because she did not have sufficient financial resources but also the lack of technical know-how. With the run of time, she came to know about Business Literacy Class (BLC) and participated regularly all the BLC class at her group which seems miracle to her. “I have gained not only the technical knowledge on commercial goat farming but also achieved confidence and extra energy from the class,” she reacted with smile.
Goat farming is very women friendly and can be managed side by side while doing other additional business. She had 15 goats when she thought she would be doing goat farming as a business. Now, she is able to earn handful amounts of money by selling goats. Only this year, she earned approx. NRs. 200,000.00 (in words: Two Lakh) from goats and still she has got 35 goats left at her sheds. From these days, she does not have to look for buyers anymore because she found market at her own shed as the traders from various places such as Surkhet, Nepalgunj and even from Pokhara her goat farm. She says, she can earn more than 2 lakhs per year from the goats. Currently, goat market is getting bigger and bigger, it even supply to Kathmandu from her places. “Life became much easier”, as she said. To manage basis needs and necessity such as schooling to her kids, managing family health and buying necessary things became ease for her. Currently, her son is studying in Surkhet and regularly medical check-up her daughter who has health problem since long is being managed from the goat income.
From her experience, good intention always needs a little push. “In fact, I was looking some push factor and little support, where at the same time, I found the support from HVAP that drove me to the height of success” she said. Now, the goat business stands for her better than any other business.
Goat is small in size but it is very smart and profitable business in terms of raising income. “Whenever, I am in need of money; I just sell goat and fulfill the urgent need”, she assumed. “Now, she became a means of inspiration at her village. She even encourages others to do similar business so as to improve living condition”, as mentioned by her community. However, she has kind of doubt at this moment in regard of managing such business after the completion of HVAP. She anticipates that program like HVAP should extent so that women like her could develop capacity on business and enterprises.