SANGAM

Community forest helps to boost family income

Sangam Prasain
Nawalparasi, Nov.23,2008:
Nisha Pandey of Sukhani Makar village has three children, five cows, seven goats and some chickens to look after and she does her job well.
Pandey, 28, remained idle until she involved herself in community forestry. "I used to help my husband in the farm," she says, "and look after the kids."
The Pandey family hardly earned enough from the farm to pay the fees for their children. Now things have changed.
The husband continues to till the farm and Pandey generates her own income to support the family.
"I now earn up to Rs.12, 000 a month by selling 30 liters milk per day," she says. "I have been making some money by selling milk and meat."
Pandey first started rearing a cow by borrowing Rs.30, 000 from micro financing institution, thereafter, she became a member of community forestry in Kamadhenu Cattle Resource Development Group at Makar.
"Community managed foraged land has given opportunities to us to increase our income that were initially very low."
Parwati Bhattarai, another community forests users said that livestock and animal husbandry had become an important source of income and employment in Makar village.
Under the third livestock development project of Asian Development Bank with the government, NGOs and community group she started cattle rearing taking loans. She now owns four cows and 11 goats, which give her adequate income to assist her husband’s income.
Surya Bahadur Singh, community animal consultant of Kawasati VDC, said that such community-based programme would contribute to household income.
"Animal husbandry and livestock is playing a major role in providing employment, especially self employment with high participation of women," he said.
He informed that the Shiva Community Forest at Kawasati VDC of Nawalparasi was benefiting the locals with 35 hectares of land for grass cultivation, which was benefiting more than 400 houses.
"CLDP is working with Sujal Dairy Pokhara and Dairy Development Corporation in order to promote micro dairy and community livestock providing technical support and know-how to the community."
Om Prasad Chapagain, a farmer said that he started rearing two cows and now he had 10 of them from which he produces 50-60 liter milk once a day. "I have also started grass cultivation in two Bigahas of land."
Devendra Lamichanne, farmer of Divyapuri-6 Nawalparasi said that through the loans provided by the rural micro financing programme, he was starting fattening buffalo calf. He said adding that if he succeeded in his plan he would establish gene conservation and animal cross-center also.
He informed that the purpose of fattening buffalo calf was to meet the meat deficit, mostly in the capital city.
Under the follow-on of the third livestock development project of Asian Development Bank with the government, NGOs, private sector and community group, ADB approved US$20 million in December 2003 with the closing date of 2010. The investment of the government and private sector to this project is US$11 million.
The project objective is to reduce poverty in the rural areas by improving nutrition, income and employment opportunities for farmers and resource-poor people, especially women by increasing livestock productivity in an ecologically sustainable and equitable manner.
The scope of the project is to raise livestock productivity, promote alternative markets for livestock inputs and outputs and to develop institutional capacity of the government, NGOs, private sector and community group for self-sustainable livestock sub-sector development in a process-oriented and coordinated manners.