[Nepal] Opening of Vegetable Collection Center

Since January 2018, Peace Winds Japan (PWJ) has been implementing the livelihood improvement project for farmers in Sindhupalchok district with our local partner organization, Institution for Suitable Actions for Prosperity(ISAP hereafter),together with the cooperation from the Government of Nepal.
This project is funded by the JICA Partnership Program (JPP).

PWJ and ISAP have been helping to recover their lives after the earthquake in 2015.

One of the centers was newly built in Chhap village, and the handover ceremony was held on October 2nd, 2019.

Now that the Center is established, farmers will form a group in the community and will make shipments, which will aim for better transport and fair trade.

[One day at the Vegetable Collection Center]

1.　Farmers bring in fresh vegetables to the Center.

2.　Center staffs weigh vegetables and records details such as its weight and price on the record book.

3.　Center staff delivers vegetables to the market for distribution.
4.　At a later date, Center staff will pay the sales of vegetables to each farmers based on the register book.

The Center is managed by the Marketing and Planning Committee (MPC), composed of selected farmers from farmer’s groups. Through the project, management trainings are also conducted to MPC.

Mr. Kumar Shrestha, a member of MPC in Chhap village stated “Prior to the project, majority of villagers used to buy vegetables from outside. However, we can now sell vegetables to markets outside, not only to consume by ourselves.” he said. “In the new Collection Center, farmers can sell vegetables from a minimum of 1kg. Unlike many vegetables brought outside from Sindhupalchok, local farmers can deliver freshly harvested vegetables to nearby markets. Shipment volume is not sufficient to fill the markets at this moment, yet coping with more MPCs, we aim to further increase the shipment volume.”

Another member of MPC happily mentions that “We want to increase the shipment volume by four times by this summer” while looking at the resister book.

Now farmers are anticipating to expand the market upon the shipment increase.

Only a few months have passed after the opening of the Center, and it is still a long way to get the Center on the track, but we believe outlook is looking good.

Thank you for your support to our activities in Nepal!