Rupantar Project Dairy Farming report, Koshi Province Sunsari, Nepal
Ramdhuni is a municipality established in 2014 located in Sunsari district of Koshi province in eastern Nepal which is 356 kms from Kathmandu. This municipality is located between two famous cities of Itahari and Inaruwa where the Mahendra Highway passes through the central part of the municipality.
The Chatra Canal (Sunsari Morang Irrigation Project) originating from the Koshi River flows through the municipality from north to south. This canal has played an important role in the agriculture of Sunsari and Morang districts. The total area of Ramdhuni is 91.69 square kilometers, with a population of 63,452, 29,820 males and 33,632 females, living in 11,491 individual households.
Geographically, Ramdhuni is in the Terai region of Nepal with a height of 185 meters above sea level. With a total area of 20420 hectares, Ramdhuni is mostly on flat land and divided into 9 wards. The canal supplies water to the irrigation system of Ramdhuni Municipality and surrounding areas. Out of the total area, 14833 hectares i.e. 72.64% is arable land and 2021 hectares i.e. 9.90% is covered by forests.
Although Sagun Agriculture Cooperative's area of operation is all over Sunsari district, Ramdhuni is mainly for agricultural work. The cooperative's Customs Hiring Center offers subsidized agricultural machinery to farmers in Ramdhuni, Inaruwa, and nearby municipalities, facilitating easier agricultural work.
About 60% of the total population of Ramdhuni Municipality is dependent on agriculture, where rice, corn, mustard, vegetable and milk production, and goat rearing are the main occupations. In 2023, Rupantar Project and Sagun Agricultural Cooperative explored avenues for conducting a dairy farming program to support the livelihood of dairy farmers in Ramdhuni Municipality.
On 2 May 2024, project orientation and group formation were successfully completed in Ramdhuni-2 Kalizhora and on 11th May 2024 Ramdhuni-4, Lalpur. Mr. Tika Dutta Ban, founder chairman and project coordinator of Sagun Agricultural Cooperative, conducted an orientation program on the Rupantar project and milk production program. 27 farmers, including 15 male and 12 female, participated in the Kalizhora program, whereas, in Lalpur, 58 farmers, including 29 male and 29 female participated. Many farmers focused on dairy cattle rearing, with few involved in land cultivation. According to the Rupantar project's goals, the selected milk-producing farmers formed a 25-20 member group.
Post group formation, a group meeting at both locations was held where the members were acquainted with the objectives, goals, thematic areas such as animal husbandry and milk production, and the type of training available in the project. They were informed about the agricultural machinery services available at the cooperative's Customs Hiring Center.
The local implementation of the dairy farming project will be done by Sagun Agriculture Cooperative while support and monitoring of the project will be done by Rupantar, Cimmyt and MOIAC, AKC and VHLSEC, Sunsari.
Kamalkant Rai, Chairman, Sagun Agricultural Cooperative Association and Tika Dutta Ban, Project Coordinator, facilitated the gathering, group formation and meetings. The program was managed by Ritika Chaudhary, Agricultural Technician and Ganga Prasad Pandit, Field Supervisor with support from other employees of the cooperative.
Concluding the program, Tika encouraged the farmers participation and thanked the participants in making the program a success.