KATHMANDU, MARCH 18
The productive sector is attracting investment from the cooperatives outside the valley.
Towards the eastern part of the country, most of the cooperatives are investing in the production sector such as bee farming, cow farming, crops farming, dairy production, tea farming, among others.
Moreover, the cooperative businesses seem to have weathered both the lockdown and the market crisis fairly well compared to other businesses. Almost all the cooperatives outside the valley are doing brisk business, as per the Department of Cooperatives (DoC).
According to the DoC currently more than 500 cooperatives are involved in productive sector across the country. And the number of members in such cooperatives is increasing every passing year.
Shree Shiva Satasi Women Bee Farming Cooperative Ltd of Jhapa is one of the examples of cooperative organisations working in the production sector. The cooperative comprises 486 female members, of whom 320 are involved in bee farming.
Every year the cooperative produces around 20 tonnes of honey, which is sold in different districts, including Taplejung and Kathmandu, said Chairperson of the cooperative, Devi Kumari Oli.
"Those who have the funds can deposit the seed money and take two beehives and those who do not have the money can take beehives as a loan. And once they expand their business, they have to return the two hives to the organisation," she explained.
In this way, the cooperative is making women financially independent, she added.
The members are allowed to sell the honey they produce only to the cooperative.
As per Oli, the annual sales of honey produced by the cooperative stands at around Rs 3.5 million.
Similarly, Chatara Community Multipurpose Cooperative Ltd in Sunsari is operating cow farming. Currently the cooperative has 175 cows and employs 19 people. According to Chairperson Sita Ram Bhandari, members can purchase cows from the cooperative's farm and they have to sell the milk at the cooperative.
The cooperative gives 20 per cent discount in case the cows need any medical treatment and also provides 50 per cent amount for the insurance of the animals to the cooperative members.
According to him, the cooperative is producing 600 litres of milk from its own farm while around 1,500 litres of milk is collected from the members on a daily basis.
Amid this, Maharanijhoda Small Farmers Agricultural Cooperative Ltd in Jhapa is practising plotting agriculture through cooperative.
With a total of 2,050 members, it is involved in plotting farming, dairy production, cooperative grocery shop and seed processing centre.
Meanwhile, Kanyam Tea Producer Cooperative Ltd of Ilam district is working on tea production sector. According to Khyamraj Pradhan, coordinator of the cooperative, they have been collecting green tea leaves from their members through 13 collection centres and processing and producing tea. Currently they have 166 members actively working in tea production. Annually they are doing transactions worth Rs 120 million. However, after the COVID-19 pandemic, the market has been affected somehow, Pradhan added.
As per the department, attraction of the cooperatives towards the production sector is increasing. And the department is also preparing to soon start updating its records of all the cooperatives in the country.
A version of this article appears in the print on March 19, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
