Dipak Thapa (27), from Thalara Rural Municipality Ward No. 1, faced major challenges due to lack of job opportunities in his village. To support his family, he worked as a dishwasher in a hotel in India. Despite the tough conditions, his income barely met the family’s needs. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in him losing job and returned to Nepal, where he struggled to feed for his family of six members.
Dipak became hopeful when he came to contact with SRIJANA project, which aimed to create youth employment and income opportunities in his village area. He became affiliated as a group member in his community and was recommended for the poultry farming skill training conducted by the project. It encouraged him to start and improve a poultry business. He built a poultry shed with capacity of 500 chicken rearing and started poultry farming by borrowing money from his group members.
Dipak became hopeful when he came to contact with SRIJANA project, which aimed to create youth employment and income opportunities in his village area. It encouraged him to start and improve a poultry business with 500 chicken rearing.
With the support from project, a local value chain system in poultry business has been started in and around Thalara. Local poultry farmers demand poultry inputs like chicks, feed, vaccines/medicines with the supplier. Then the supplier orders the inputs from Dhangadhi markets and distributes as per their orders. The farmers produce and sells their chicken products at meat shops and these shops sell meat to local snacks shops, hotels, homestays and local customers. The project contributed to establishing a poultry inputs local supplier and linked farmers with the supplier. It also supported in establishing meat fresh houses and homestays for the market management of chicken meat products. Dipak is one of the representative of poultry farmers who is linked with the supplier with one time subsidy support of NPR. 25 per chick. He was subsidized for 500 chicks for one lot only. Now he has been able to earn nicely from his poultry business. He earns NPR 100,000 to 125,000 (EUR 751 to 939 Appx.) per lot. His yearly turnover is five times this amount. He is fully employed in his poultry business and well established in the local market value chain system. He is happy and wants to scale up his business. He said-‘Poultry farm business helped me to bring hope and happiness back to my life.’
