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Panchakanya Agriculture Cooperative Limited Summary
Nepal: Panchakanya Agriculture Cooperative, Ltd
An increased demand for produce and grains in Kathmandu over the last decade has lead regional farmers to intensify their use of fertilizers and pesticides to yield more crops. Uddav Adhikari, a farmer in his 30’s decided instead to employ a model for organic production. Uddav’s Village Development Committee (VDC) and four surrounding VDCs created the Panchakanya Agriculture Cooperative Ltd., which specializes in organic methods. But it was under the leadership of Uddav’s wife, Nirmala, that the cooperative became a colletive effort of women farmers—something that had never been seen before in Nepal.
Panchakanya was formally incorporated in 2004 as a women’s agricultural cooperative. Its mission is “to improve the social and economic well-being of the members by promoting self-help and mutual cooperation.” It focuses on promoting organic production by its members and by non-members and other farmers in surrounding villages. Currently Panchakanya has 35 members, and hundreds more are eager to join. The average land holding of each member-farmer is a tiny 0.3 hectares on which tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, and pumpkins are grown in the main season. During the winter, when off-season vegetables command a higher price, members focus on peas, potatoes, leafy vegetables, cauliflower, and cabbage. While the cooperative markets these vegetables collectively in villages and in Kathmandu, many of the members also sell some of their produce individually.
All of Panchakanya’s members are farming organically, and their incomes are up. The women leading Panchakanya have quickly pushed the cooperative’s business horizons by creating a microlending enterprise, where each member deposits NPR 100 (US $1.30) per month. Loans are used to buy agricultural inputs and support animals, as well as to meet household costs. The push for localization has spawned a village inputs center, which supplies seeds and other materials to cooperative members and prevents member-farmers from wasting valuable time—and money—buying from many different sources outside the community. Another boon to the community has been a lower cost for healthcare as reduced pesticide use has resulted in less diarrhea and dysentery. The same is true of formerly diseased livestock and crops, and these successes are drawing an even wider audience to the benefits of organic farming. The cooperative’s success is resulting in the replication of like-minded organic farming cooperatives around Nepal.
