KATHMANDU, Jan 28: Golyan Group, a noted industrial house of the country, has ventured into organic farming.
The house targets to attract young generation into agriculture, for which it has started the venture in association with former Miss Teen Nepal Khusbu Oli. The group is led by Pawan Golyan.
With a vision to expand organic farming across the country, the group has started the pilot phase from Jhapa district on 200 bigha land, focusing on fruit farming.
Let’s go organic
According to Golyan, they have planted lemon, papaya, watermelon and mango trees with an investment of Rs 400 million. Madargachha, Chakchake and Gherabari areas in the district have been chosen for farming.
The group is also in planning to start herb farming in hilly regions of the country in near future. It avails the service of experts from the University of North Bengal, India.
Golyan said: “We coming up with broad vision of agriculture. It takes a huge investment for organic fruit farming.” The group has taken loan from SBI Bank and Janata Bank for the purpose.
“Organic farming is not only related to consumer's health, but it also has direct impact on the income of farmers,” he said, adding, “It can also reduce imports.”
About two hundred farmers are directly working with the group at the moment.
“We are providing all technical trainings to the farmers to make them aware of long-term effect of pesticides and other issues,” said Khusbu Oli, who now heads an organization named Ashraya Nepal.
The group has further planned to develop model villages for organic farming in several places across the country. It is targeting to bring around 400 farmers across the country into its fold within one year.
