Mostly My Stuff: November 2010

Sustainable Soil Management Programme
Farmer Profiles from the Mid-hills of Nepal
April 2009

Portrait of Guman Singh Khatri of Baglung District

Introduction
Guman Singh Khatri, aged 33, a father of 2 young children and originally from Dudilabhati VDC, started his career as a Primary Level School Teacher. After 6 years of teaching, he left the job in 2001 and migrated to Hatiya VDC where he purchased 1 ropani of land and began a small poultry farm. He used to grow just maize on his 1 ropani. In Hatiya VDC, vegetables are mostly imported from Palpa, and Pokhara, thus they are expensive and not very fresh. Observing the situation, Mr.Khatri thought growing vegetables would provide a good living so in 2006 he joined the Shiva Krishak group through whom he received training on vegetable production from the Chartare Youth Club (CYC), a local NGO working with SSMP.

Impact
Mr Khatri owns only 1 ropani of land in Hatiya Bazaar village. Motivated by CYC, Mr.Khatri rented a further 1.5 ropani of land at a cost of NRs 5,000 per year, and in 2006 started to grow cauliflower, cabbage, potato, and off-season tomato in a 120 m2 polytunnel. He had actually tried to use a polytunnel before collaboration with CYC, but it failed due to lack of technical know how. This time he had better success.

From his first season producing off-season tomato in the new polytunnel, he produced 15 quintel (1,500 kg) in four months, from which he earned NRs 52,500 with a net profit of NRs 22,000. He utilized this first profit for investment in a savings scheme and for admitting his son and daughter in a boarding school.

Guman Singh feels happy when he takes fresh vegetables to sell in the market, where he receives a "reasonable price", and proud when farmers from nearby villages come to visit his farm to see his model polytunnel and learn about polytunnel cultivation of tomatoes. 15 other farmers have invested in polytunnels through the knowledge and advice obtained from Guman Singh. His success with the polytunnel have been aired on Nepal Television and published through the Kantipur newspaper to encourage others. He says: "one does not have to go aboard to earn money, if you search you will find dollars in your own land!".

One interesting aspect of Guman Singh’s farming system, is that he does not have any livestock except the small poultry unit. He therefore buys in both un-decomposed fym at NRs 30 per doko, which he prepares properly before adding to the land, and urine at NRs. 1 per litre. He often buys in 200 doko of fym in one batch. In previous times, he used to dump the poultry manure in the nearby river - now he incorporates the poultry droppings in with the fym prior to proper preparation. After employing SSM practices in his land for just three years, he already recognizes that it is easier to plough and he is happy with the yields.

In 2008 on his 2½ ropani of land, he grew tomato all the year round, off-season cucumber, potato, bittergourd, onion, bean, squash, sponge-gourd, cowpea and smaller areas of other vegetables and legumes – but he mainly focuses on offseason vegetables, in order to obtain a better price. He likes doing experiments and trials, and recently he has been trying off-season onion, with the Agri Found Dark Red variety, to obtain higher yields and better prices. He has also recently improved his polyhouse to improve ventilation, and now uses string, not bamboo, to train his tomatoes in order to save costs and
labour.

Mr Guman Singh keeps good records of his activities, costs and profits; for example, for his polyhouse tomatoes:

Total income Total cost
Year 1 (06/07) NRs.70,000 NRs.30,000
Year 2 (07/08) NRs.65,000 NRs.20,000
Year 3 (08/09) NRs.76,000 no data yet

Currently, there are still 10 quintal (1000 kg) of tomato to harvest, and his expected return from this will boost his income for 2008-09 by NRs. 40,000.

His total income from all the vegetables he has sold in 2008 is NRs. 120,000. Usually, the total inputs for his vegetable farming activities is around NRs.14,000 annually. Guman Singh reckons that the income from vegetable sales usually contributes about 50% of his total cash income. Besides the income from vegetables, he also makes money from his poultry and a small village shop which raise about Rs.150,000 annually. This additional income is used to pay off a loan of NRs.175,000, taken on when he purchased the 1 ropani of land on settling in Hatiya VDC. His plan for the future is to buy more land and build a house as he still lives in rented accommodation.

Guman Singh is pleased that he joined his farmer group and worked with CYC – his income has improved beyond recognition, and he feels a great change in his social status. Now he feels people trust him more, and he does not have difficulties in managing his household financial matters. The vegetable farming has given him confidence, and he now feels he can care for the family properly, because even if his poultry business failed, he now has an alternative.