20 Sep Khil Kumari Bhudhathoki
Khilkumari Bhudhathoki lives in a nuclear family with her two sons and husband. She has been living in Indreni, Sankhu (Kathmandu) from two years. Khil Kumari has taken NRs 600,000 loan from Milijuli Samaj Nepal’s partner organization (Cooperative) Pratibaddha Milijuli Saving & Credit Cooperative Ltd for pig raising. She has used her land as mortgage for getting the loan. When the team of review went to her dwelling, there were more than one hundred pigs and piglets in the pigsty. Additionally, many were in labor and ready to breed. Khil Kumari and her husband have nine years’ experience in pig farming. In average, they make net profit of NRs 20,000 per month from this business. As a supplementary source of income, they have rented out a taxi.
Khil Kumari and her husband are fully engaged in this occupation. Many people hate their occupation considering pig as a filthy animal (pigs prefer mud and wet area). But Khil Kumari and her husband are dedicated in their work. They said that there is high profit, high demand, easy market and minimum risk of losing the investment in pig farming. They do not have to search market for selling her pigs as the trader come to her farm by themselves. Khil Kumari says, ‘we have been living in this land on lease. We pay NRs 40,000 rent per year. In the beginning, we invested NRs 700,000 to make pigsty and buy piglets. We started from 17 piglets. Today, we exactly cannot tell how many pigs we have as there is new breeding every day. Our neighbors are not happy with us as they complain of bad smell. But we have been ignoring it and have decided to continue rearing pigs as this occupation has scaled up our economic condition. With the income of pig farming and taxi rent, we were able to buy a piece of land in Sankhu. We have been sending our two boys to a private school.’
Khil Kumari is depositing NRs 1000 as monthly savings at PMSCCL. During the review, the team found her very hard working and dedicated in her present business. But the team also found that she has not paid back the loan to PMSCCL and due date of her loan repayment was already over. When asked about this, she said that PMSCCL office is far from her house and she is not confident to travel that distance by a bus. So, she also requested the review team to provide service of collecting loan from the member’s house.