Money
Goat farming brings joy to farmers in Salyan
The farmers of Salyan are becoming economically independent via commercial goat farming as they are earning good income from the activity.The farmers of Salyan are becoming economically independent via commercial goat farming as they are earning good income from the activity.
Locals’ attraction towards goat rearing is increasing due to easy access to market and handsome profits from the business.
More than 50 farmers are involved in rearing goats after constructing improved goat shed with a subsidy of Rs1 million from the District Livestock Office of Salyan.
Along with goat rearing, some farmers are also involved in grass farming as an additional income source.
The income from goat farming has helped farmers to meet household expenditures including covering education costs of their children, according to the locals.
Suresh Gahamagar, a local school teacher of Damadwalika of Kalimati Rural Municipality has been rearing goat for the last four years. Gahamagar who started his enterprise—Susanka Agriculture Farm—with nine goats, now has 108 improved species of goats in his farm. Gahamagar is earning more than Rs500,000 annually. He makes additional income by grass farming on 15 hectares of land.
Similarly, Krishna Raj Upadhyay from Dadagaun, Sarada Municipality has been earning Rs 300,000 annually through goat rearing. He started rearing goat three years ago and currently owns 84 goats which include local and improved varieties. He is expecting his annual income to increase by a hundred percent from this year. Upadhyay started his venture with an initial investment of Rs1.8 million.
Farmers sell the offsprings of improved variety of goats to the District Livestock Office which the office resells to other farmers willing to undertake goat rearing. A single baby goat of the boer variety is able to fetch Rs20,000 to Rs 30,000.
Apart from selling goats, the farmers are making money from the sale of organic goat manure. Recently, Upadhyay sold goat manure worth Rs80,000.
Goat rearing has not only helped the farmers to meet their daily needs but also empowered them to save for the future.
“The new venture has helped us meet our expenses as well as save for the future,” said Samjhana Budathoki of Kumakha Rural Municipality.
Meanwhile, Bal Kumar Shrestha, head at District Livestock Office said that the government has been providing different types of grants under different programmes launched by the government. The office has distributed around 200 goats of improved variety to the farmers of the district.
According to Shrestha, there are 547,594 goats in the district and around 80 percent farmers engaged in livestock rearing are involved in commercial goat farming.