Tanahun woman earning Rs. 50,000 per month from goat rearing

BY AMAR RAJ NAHARKI

Tanahun, Apr 17 : A woman from Tanahun has been able to earn both name and money from goat rearing in the village.

Gayatri Pudasaini Adhikari has earned both name and money by operating a goat farm in Churekholsi of Vyas Municipality-4, Tanahun.

She has been increasing her investment since she started earning good income from goat farming.

According to Adhikari, she is earning around Rs. 50,000 monthly from the business.

Adhikari, who has already invested Rs. 5 million, plans to invest an additional Rs. 4.1 million within the current fiscal year to earn a monthly profit of Rs. 200,000.

A total of 90 Boer goats, including 43 nannies, 23 kids are in her Ganga Devi Goat Farm, she said.

She has been rearing goats in around 36 companies of land, including 24 companies of her own land and 12 companies of rented land.

Napier, Super Napier, Smart Napier, Stylo, Bashar, Rayokhanayo, Kimbu, and other varieties of grass have been planted.

She informed that out of 36 companies, two companies have structure and the rest have grass cultivation.

Husband Narayan Adhikari, father-in-law Devi Prasad Adhikari and mother-in-law Gangadevi Adhikari have assisted her in goat rearing.

Adhikari said that four locals along with her family are employed in the farm.

She said that she came up with the idea of rearing goats in the village after finding out that the country has been forced to import goats from India due to high demand for meat.

"We decided to rear Boer goats commercially as it would help stop the outflow of money to import goats to meet the local demand," Adhikari said.

She said that she initially bought Boer Billy goat at a cost of Rs. 300,000, including transportation, from Australia.

She said that she has reared Boer goats commercially by purchasing pure Boer goat kids from Bandipur Goat Research Centre and National Animal Breeding Center, Pokhara.

Adhikari said that she started to rear Boer goats by removing local goats as it would be sold at a higher price and there would be more profit soon.

Gayatri has succeeded in setting an example that one can earn income from agriculture by inspiring others to rear goats of advanced breeds, said Bishwo Raj Neupane, ward chairman of Vyas Municipality-4.

Adhikari's farm is currently focused on producing improved breeds of kids rather than goats for meat.

Rudrasen Thakuri, a technician at the Veterinary Hospital and Veterinary Expert Center, Tanahun, said that she was successful in getting a grant of Rs. 200,000. Gayatri Adhikari said that she was excited when her firm was listed to receive an Rs. 2.05 million grant from Nepal Livestock Sector Innovation Project, Pokhara.

She said that work was being done in the current fiscal year as per the provision of investing the same amount as the grant received.

The government should provide subsidies to the farmers to increase production of maize and other agro crops as they have to be imported from abroad, she said.