Resources

Study Tour to New Zealand

In order to catalyse it’s initiatives, Samarth aimed to sensitize the decision makers from the government and other important stakeholders of the industry about trail management and planning through practical exposure to an international destination has addressed every aspect of trails and greenways.

This case study explores the crowding-in of the small and micro slaughterhouse intervention in the pig sector.

In the fish sector, lack of access to quality seeds - hatchling, fry and fingerlings - has been one of the major problems for farmers across the country. Every season, smallholder farmers struggle to acquire timely and necessary quantity of seeds. This reduces the harvest period by up to a month which results in fish that are smaller in size at the end of harvest fetching lower price.

In order to strengthen the after sales services of agri-machineries, Samarth-NMDP is currently working with Department of Agriculture Engineering (DOAEng) and private sector partners to build the capacity of motorcycle and pump-set mechanics to expand into repair and maintenance of agri-machineries. The first phase of the ten-day training was held from May 10^th to 19^th where 20 mechanics from 20 different districts from all across the nation were trained on the premises of DoAEng in Kathmandu. 

Marketing strategies adopted by importers of mini-tillers have, so far, not been able to reach out to the farmers of the hills in reducing their skepticism, informing the benefits of mini-tillers and making mini-tillers and repair services accessible. Samarth-NMDP has therefore, partnered with one of the importers of mini-tillers, based on their willingness and capacity,  to pilot the business advisory services such as farmer-focused service provision, improved investment in after-sales and repairs, and collaboration with local government and extension officers for social marketing.

Cultivating the land is an arduous, physical task, especially on the steep terraces of the mid-hills. Over 40% of farmers have access to draught animal power (mainly oxen and buffalo) via around 250,000 owners. Among draught oxen and buffalo owning families, women are usually tasked with gathering forage and caring for these animals – spending around an hour a day in doing so.

Samarth-NMDP’s mechanization component began in June 2013 and decided, based on initial market analysis, to focus primarily on facilitating the development of the mini-tiller market in the mid-hills. This is where the deficit in labour is being most acutely felt, and where the mechanization market is least developed.

Samarth-NMDP had conducted the first ever frozen semen artificial insemination training for grandparent seed stock (GPS) farms that maintain pure breed of pigs on June, 2014 by importing exotic and superior breeds like Berkshire, Duroc, Large Black and Hampshire from Swine Genetic International, USA. The aim was to address the problem of excessive in-breeding, leading to low quality pigs throughout Nepal. Five GPS farms - government and private - have already started frozen semen AI.

An insight into the work Samarth-NMDP has done to improve productivity and marketing of the dairy sector through the diversification of milk products and creation of consumer-market linkages.