About Dipak Prasad Koirala
He was born in a farmers family in Sindhuli. 35 years old Dipak Prasad Koirala is a husband and father of one 2 year old son. He came to capital city Kathmandu after completing his SLC for his further studies. However, instead of going abroad for his earning, he decided to work in Nepal to improve critical condition of Junar farmers at his home town at a very young age of 18 years old.
His inspiration
With all the success till now, there are two things that inspired him to start his venture. Firstly, his lifestyle in village. After months of hard work to produce Junar,marketing and sales was the weakest part. Farmers had to walk hours long to reach market and sell Junar. There was no maximum price set for Junar. So, farmers used to sell Junar at 2 rupees per kilogram to the broker who supply Junar to the market. However, those broker used to earn more profits to 13 rupees per kilogram. Moreover, Junar farmers were exploited and not given proper respect.
Dipak Prasad Koirala then thought to solve these problems in the society by opening one cooperative 'Sindhuli Junar Sangh'. The aim to open this cooperative was to do marketing of Junar without any broker to supply their products by uniting all the farmers in the village.
The second inspiration was when he got first prize in Junar exhibition organized jointly by Leo Club of Sindhuli and Agriculture Development Office Sindhuli. His achievement motivated him to move forward and gave him hope that his determination and hard work would give good results.
His struggle
At the age of 18 years, he initiated his first cooperative to uplift Junar farmers in Sindhuli for the first time. Neither family nor society supported him. His family wanted him to go abroad countries like all other youths in the village to earn money. On the other hand, society made joke of him thinking this was his foolishness to open cooperative. However, Dipak Prasad Koirala had self confidence that working in unity would solve problem. He started his cooperative along with other 12 friends.
The other challenge was to find market for Junar. He says," It was really hard to find market for Junar. As Junar was a new commodity,many people were unknown about this fruit. People refused to buy Junar at some places." Moreover, discrimination towards farmers and their occupation was practiced in the society with no government support.
However, he was successful in his aims working under such difficult situation till this time with more than 10 years experience. He started with small group but now this cooperative represents 7,500 households, 48 local level cooperatives, 2 district level cooperatives all under 1 central organization. This cooperative have several collection centers and cold storage with a capacity of 500 metric tons. Sindhuli is now known for Junar under government certified title of 'one village one product'. The demand for Junar is increasing along with improved standard of living of Junar farmers in Sindhuli.
His Future Plans
Since 3 years, Junar is exported to India. His future plan is to export Junar in China next year. Currently, Junar juice factory is constructed in Sindhuli under the leadership of Suraj Vaidhya with an investment of 7.5 cores. In this venture, farmers have 50 % share and 50 % of other private investors .
His main future plan in his words: " Junar can be grown between 800 meter - 1300 meter in hilly regions. People living in village are working only for their economic benefit bit not thinking of environmental and other aspects. They are not aware of long term aspects of development. Junar is only found in Nepal and its importance is not yet realized. If production is increased, greenery is maintained in the country. Farmers can benefit economically along with increased national revenue and standard of living of farmers."
He further adds, " There is no lack of market for Junar now. Nepal being located between two developed countries, India and China. If we could only export to those countries, it would be enough."
His goal is to make Sindhuli a model to encourage farmers of other regions of the country to implement the same chain.
His message
"With more than 75% of population as farmers in Nepal, they are mostly suffered by the effects of inflation in the country. Government imports goods in huge amount but fails to plan to increase production in the nation. It is hard to get loan to start any new venture in our country. In this case, the only smart option is to utilize available resources and work together without migrating to other countries for earning. We need to specialize those products that are available in nature and work as a unity to find proper market and increase production."
Watch this video to what Dipak Prasad Koirala has to say about his venture
+Alina Prajapati is a management student doing her bachelors degree. Alina a project leader at +View Your Choice- तपाईको सोचाई हाम्रो रोजाई - is also a passionate singer.
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