Kathmandu, September 26

Market linkages are a must to raise the production of dairy and meat as per government’s plan to be self-reliant on these two products by next fiscal.

During the 20th anniversary celebration of Heifer Nepal — the United States-based international non-governmental organisation — which is working in the sector of livestock farming for the empowerment of rural women and livelihood improvement of rural poor, Pierre Ferrari, president of Heifer International, said that Heifer International Nepal has been supporting the government to achieve the target to be self-reliant in the aforesaid two products.

Heifer has also unveiled its plan to uplift 500,000 families from a state of poverty and vulnerability to sustainability and resilience through engagement in competitive, sustainable and inclusive goat and dairy value chain enterprise. “This programme will help the country be self-reliant on the aforementioned products,” said Ferrari, adding, “It will also help in economic growth, improve livelihoods and increase the food and nutrition security situation.”

Ferrari further stressed that empowerment, institutional strengthening, sustainable production and market system are necessary to achieve the goals.

Heifer Nepal uses the value based holistic community development approach for empowerment of women and rural poor, which has nurtured women’s leadership and strengthened social harmony. It has helped built grassroots institution and enabled the people to emerge as strong players in the community value chain, as per Shubh Narayan Mahato, country director of Heifer Nepal.

Heifer Nepal is currently working in 35 districts by developing community groups and cooperatives. Heifer invests in livestock and distributes it to the rural families through community groups and cooperatives. Heifer Nepal has claimed that it helped produce 164,108 saleable goats and 133,896 litres of milk per day in 2017 from the project area.

Currently, consumption of meat is 14 kg per person per year and the country has been producing 12.5 kg per person per year. Likewise, the country has to increase its milk production by 19 litres per person per year to be self-reliant on milk products by next year.

As per Ministry of Livestock Development, per person per year milk consumption, which currently stands at 72 litres, needs to be raised to 91 litres per person per year by 2018-19 to meet the nutritional requirements set by the government.