Sagarmatha Livestock and Agriculture Cooperative (SLAC) together with Southasia Institute of Advanced Studies (SIAS) and Aria Solutions organized a learning sharing event of its “Co-producing a shock-resilient business ecosystem for women-engaged enterprises in Nepal” (CREW) project at Manthali, Ramechhap on 1st April 2024. The event was chaired by Mr. Bhim Bahadur Tamang, chairperson of SLAC. Mr. Labashree Neupane, Mayor of Ramechhap Municipality, and Mr. Lawa Shrestha, Mayor of Manthali Municipality were the distinguished guests of the sharing workshop. The workshop was attended by diverse stakeholders including government and non-government organizations, representatives of district federations, women champions, and cooperative members. The sharing workshop was facilitated by Mr. Prithvi Narayan Shrestha, manager of SLAC.
Mr. Bhim Bahadur Tamang welcomed all the participants and briefly shared about the SLAC’s interventions and activities that were conducted at Rampur in collaboration with SIAS and Aria Solutions during the research period. He also expressed gratitude towards all the stakeholders for their continuous support in facilitating the research interventions. Mr. Tamang in his welcome remarks also highlighted the accomplishments of SLAC, particularly, the establishment of the ‘Char Gharey’ brand that has made its unique identity in the market.
Followed by the welcome remarks, was a comprehensive presentation from Dr. Maniram Banjade, Principal Investigator of the CREW project, and Mr. Bibhor Kayastha, Founder Director of Aria Solutions. While Dr. Banjade’s presentation shed light on the research context, its key objectives, conceptual framework, and key outcomes of the research, Mr. Kayastha’s presentation outlined a detailed description of the research interventions and their achievements at Ramechhap. Dr. Banjade noted various challenges faced by the agro-cooperative trying to uptake the business modality to promote legumes and suggested some way forward for upscaling and sustaining the interventions initiated by the action research to facilitate the Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE). Similarly, Mr. Bibhor Kayastha shared about the major technological interventions, branding establishment, and marketing of Rajma, and various capacity-building activities aimed at economic upliftment of women farmers and their cooperative.
After this was a discussion session moderated by Dr. Dil Khatri, Executive Director of SIAS. At the beginning of the session, the manager of SLAC shared experiences faced by the cooperative in different nodes of the value chain and underlined the importance of the local government’s support to promote initiatives aimed at promoting the flagship product of Ramechhap. Likewise, the representative of Ramechhap District Agriculture Cooperative Federation appreciated the initiative of SLAC and committed support to expand their work. Similarly, the representative from the District Agriculture Development Office agreed that the government’s support should not only be limited to the production phase but rather should facilitate at all levels of the value chain.
The agriculture officer of Manthali Municipality highlighted the importance of a demonstration plot to promote the seeds of local varieties and generate economic opportunities. While the Mayor of Ramechhap Municipality emphasized the necessity to invest in agricultural infrastructure to increase legume production, the Mayor of Manthali Municipality appreciated the team effort to establish a brand of Ramechhap and expressed interest in collaborating in scaling up the initiative.
Lastly, the chairperson of SLAC formally concluded the event by expressing gratitude to all the stakeholders for their valuable insights that will be instrumental in expanding their initiative.
