Shankar Acharya

Himal Agriculture Firm, a collaboration of MaHa Agriculture and the Jyoti Group, has started vegetable farming using Israeli technology in Parsa. This is said to be the first instance of modern farming in the district.

The project is the effort of comedian duo Madan Krishna Shrestha and Hari Bansha Acharya who own MaHa Agriculture, the Jyoti Group and two youths named Shiva Raj Pokharel from Pyuthan and Indra Bahadur Sinkhada from Chitwan. They have worked in a vegetable farm in Israel for five years.

The farm, which started producing all-season vegetables one and a half months ago, made its first sale last week. The company sold a ton of green vegetables including various types of gourd, bean and cucumber worth Rs 30,000.

According to the company, many wholesalers from Birgunj have been visiting the farm to buy vegetables. MaHa’s shop in Kathmandu also sells products from the farm. Shyam Shrestha, manager of the company, said their vegetables were gaining a good market as they were cheaper.

The project was conceived during MaHa’s visit to Israel where they made an agreement with the youths to start modern farming in Nepal. Subsequently, 11 Nepalis who had worked on Israeli farms were sent to Jeetpurphedi where Shrestha owned 19 ropanis of land.

Padma Jyoti, proprietor of the Jyoti Group, came on board and offered his unused land after reading about the project in the papers. Pokharel, who had received training from an INGO named Action Aid, was persuaded to join by MaHa.

Currently, vegetables are being grown in a greenhouse in a small area of the field. According to Pokharel, it will be expanded to cover the entire plot. He added that they had been using compost fertilisers to the maximum and planned to go completely organic within the next three years.

The farming method practiced here has helped the local people earn money too. Pokharel said they were buying cow dung from the local people to use as fertiliser.

Besides, the use of droplets irrigation that consumes less water has also been planned for the future. Iron nets will be built inside the greenhouse to grow vegetables with soft stems.

Pokharel said they were encouraged by the success of the first phase of production of green vegetables. The farm employs 13 people.

Published on: 2 October 2012 | The Kathmandu Post