Managing On Her Own

Saraswati Koirala, a Gajuri-based vegetable farmer.
2019 © Astara van der Jagt

A member of the Gajuri Small Farmers’ Agriculture Cooperative Ltd. (SFACL), Saraswati Koirala manages a vegetable farm, household chores and takes care of her 11-year-old son. The last time she saw her husband was five years ago, when he visited them for the first time since he left for Saudi Arabia in 2009.

The costs of maintaining the farm and sending her son to school worried Koirala, especially when two of her goats died. Not knowing whether she would be able to pay back, she, too, was afraid to ask for a loan from the Gajuri SFACL. 

But she took the chance, and invested the money from the loan in vegetable farming. She said she promised herself, for her son’s sake, that she would work as hard as she could to pay back the loan. Soon enough, she noticed her spending increasing, but so did her savings. She is now able to save Nrs. 2,000 per month, and pay labourers to work on the land at Nrs. 1,200 per day, including breakfast, lunch and dinner. 

Saraswati Koirala, in front of the home she was able to build from profits she earned after receiving loans from the Gajuri-based SFACL.
2019 © Astara van der Jagt

Koirala’s next business venture will be to reinvest in livestock. When her goats died, she had no insurance, so she was just left with meat to cook, eat and sell. The profit she gained was not enough to invest in even one goat.

With the Gajuri SFACL, she would have to pay a five per cent premium on the initial value of the animal to be reimbursed 75 per cent, if it dies. As the value of the animal depreciates, so too would the five per cent premium. 

For instance, if Koirala were to buy a buffalo at Nrs. 100,000, she would have to pay Nrs. 5,000 in the first year to get livestock insurance. If, in the second year, the buffalo is only worth Nrs. 60,000, then the premium she would pay is Nrs. 3,000, five per cent of its current value. 

With livestock insurance, Koirala said she would not have to worry as much about buying a buffalo, which she is planning to do.

Saraswati Koirala's corn and pumpkin fields.
2019 © Astara van der Jagt