Village livestock promoters in rural Nepal are changing the lives of buffalo farmers
ILRI News; April 3 2023
In Saptari, Nepal, one family’s greatest challenges in keeping buffalo are low market prices and mastitis, an infection in the udder that reduces milk yield. Down the road is the only dairy cooperative in the area. Serving 620 farmers, this cooperative buys and sells milk but cannot provide adequate health and feed services to farmers. Saptari is one of the districts where CGIAR’s Sustainable Animal Productivity for Livelihoods, Nutrition and Gender Inclusion (SAPLING) initiative has begun implementing SAPLING Bhaisi (meaning buffalo in the Nepali language) with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) to reconcile low buffalo productivity and uncompetitive markets in rural Nepal. By 2032, SAPLING hopes to achieve sustainable, competitive, inclusive and resilient buffalo value chains drive improved livelihoods, enhanced food and nutritional security and promote equitable growth of men and women.
One reason buffalo keepers experience limited livelihood opportunities due to low economic and non-economic benefits is the lack of access to livestock inputs and services in rural Nepal. Lack of access puts a constraint on improving livestock production and adds to the workload of women who are tasked with collecting fodder and bringing animals to vaccination centres. Since launching in March 2022, SAPLING Bhaisi has been establishing an integrated approach to solve limited access to services by capacitating a non-official network of extension workers.
SAPLING Bhaisi has partnered ILRI with the Nepal Agricultural Research Council, rural municipalities and rural dairy cooperatives to reimagine cooperatives as a service provider. Dairy cooperatives are already crucial parts of the dairy value chain but currently do not provide farmers with any services other than buying and selling milk. To increase the capacity of rural dairy cooperatives, cooperatives will host SAPLING Bhaisi’s non-official network of extension workers. Cooperatives and their local governments participating in the SAPLING project have already jointly appointed trained junior technical assistants as Village Livestock Promoters (VLPs), extension workers trained as multiple service providers. VLPs will connect farmers to input suppliers and facilitate complementary innovations in a business mode.
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