How to do farming business in Nepal
Being said that Nepal is an agricultural based nation, we import over Rs 200 billion worth of Agriculture products each year. Considering such a huge market, it should come to no surprise that agriculture farms can be a very huge business in Nepal. Here in this article, we will discuss the several methods of doing farming business in Nepal.
Types of farming business
An important phase of starting your farming business is to know what to do. Do you have a sizeable scale vegetable or animal farm? Do you want to grow acres of hay and grass for other farmers? What is the sort of farming business you are going to do?
Likewise, you may want to begin an animal husbandry based farm, where people will flock to your farm to see your works and even helped you in performing farming chores. You can also start multi-purpose huge farms or just terrace farming.
Fruits that can be grown in Nepal: Mango, papaya, banana, Kiwi, orange, lime, lemon, dragon fruit, peach plum, nectarine, apple, persimmon, Asian pear, etc.
Vegetables that can be grown in Nepal: Green beans, cauliflowers, cabbage, pea, eggplants, greens (mustard, spinach), okra, cucumber, potatoes, Nepali radish, squash, tomatoes, etc.
Spices that can be grown in Nepal; Ginger, garlic, fenugreek seeds, Szechwan pepper (timmur), turmeric, cilantro/coriander, cumin, asafoetida, and green chilies.
Livestock farms in Nepal: Cattle, buffalo, goat, sheep, poultry, pig, yak, ponies, mules
Research
You might be in the farming business for years or just a newbie, research is always mandatory. First, you decide either on the crop/ livestock or on the location. For eg, If you want to start a Kiwi farm or any other farm you should know the following things
- Know about the type of soil, climate, location, altitude, etc needed by the crop/ livestock needs
- About the variety/ breed you will be farming and where you can get the seedlings
- Know about the technology that is being used in that particular type of farm
- Know about weed, insects, diseases, and any other risk that could lower your production.
- About the post-production management, market location, market price, and trading facilities
- You can get this knowledge by consulting with agriculture experts, reading research papers in goggle, or agriculture training. Consulting with other entrepreneurs in a similar business and knowing about their difficulties is always good.
Find an experienced mentor like a veteran farmer who has worked for several decades in the farm business. Also if need be you could go to quiet peaceful Nepalese villages or small towns where agriculture is the main work of the locals so as to understand the techniques of Nepalese farming.
Likewise, you have not worked on a farm, then choose to be a helpful volunteer so that you will be able to gain precious experience which will aid you to become a skilled and season farmer in near future.
Make a Business Plan
If you want to want to start any business, be it small, medium, or large scale, you definitely will want to make a solid plan. Business plan is an important part step to take your dreams and brainstorming to make it into reality.
Make your plans chronologically in the following order:
- Your investment source
- What infrastructure you will make ( for eg, you will need a home for workers, storage house, etc)
- Technological details- like a greenhouse, shade house
- How you prepare the land for your farm
- How you will bring seedlings/ livestock to your farm
- Plantation distance and management
- Treatment for possible disease/ insect/ pest
- Schedule intercultural operation
- Harvesting technique and technology
- Post-harvesting storage/ value addition
- Possible market, market price, and transportation
While writing your business plan, you need to consider several factors such as supply and demand, operations of the farm, management structure, financial analysis, product placement, and price structure.
Get loans and grants
You might not have the needed loans to begin farming on the level that you like. However, for loans, you could go to nearby banks or agricultural banks that can give you the needed amount of money to begin your farming.
Reasonable interest will be charged on the principal amount that you have taken from these financial institutions. Agriculture loan has very less interest rate than other business. Also, it’s important that you do insurance on your farm.
Nepal government provides many grants and financial assistance to the experienced farmers. Within the month of the new budget release, each district agriculture office and forestry department calls for a proposal. You can submit the proposal to your business and ask for the grant.
Select a fertile land
Buy the land that has the right location, and altitude of the crop you need. Buy it a place where it will be easy to market your products. The next thing is the steady supply of water. Without water, the farming business will never thrive long in the future.
Select the place where their plenty of water to irrigate your crops, plants, and for your animals to drink. Soil testing is also one of the important factors for the farming business. Always test soil for PH, and nutritional value before you buy any land. Hence choose such site and land whose soil quality is best to farm on.
Know the weather condition
To have a great harvest, not only you need fertile soil but a good weather condition. Know when will the best condition to plant your crops.
The sunshine hour and intensity, rain pattern, average climate, wind speed, and director, etc have a huge impact on your farming business. You can see many farmers tilling their land, sowing, and spreading the seed all over their fields in the monsoon season between July to September. But the right season of plantation depends on the nature of your farm.
Get official business permits and licences
Before starting any type of business, you got to know that it is mandatory to register your business name, buy a business license, get an official employer identical name, and take insurance policy if needed.
You have to take care of covering all these formalities before starting your business venture. You can register your business farm by following steps
- Get approval from the District agriculture office
- Register a company in the company registrar’s office.
- Get a PAN and VAT numbers from the Inland Revenue department
To sum up
Once the registration is complete, you should be able to execute your plans. Hire the works and get your farming business started.
