What I earned is countless

 

In the last two years Daiba Rai has seen many changes in his life. He was just a trader in Diktel who sold vegetables. But today he earned not only money but also fame. Only then did farmers recognize him as a trader. Now his trading and social images are established all over the district. SAMRIDDHI made this possible. His aim is that no matter how many vegetables have been produced, the market has to be assured. With these objectives, he expanded and renovated the Vegetable shop with the SP grant supported by the RERP. He supplies vegetables to the school canteen, army camp, hostel, Indian camp, etc. Likewise, he also orientated farmers about vegetable grading and marketing with his own investment.

He has been collecting vegetables from various areas in the Khotang, including six RERP-supported vegetable groups. He pays price Rs. 20 lakh to 80 lakh to each producer group annually. He is also earning around Rs. 18 lakh annually. He wants to enhance trading capacity because he knows that even within the district, demand and supply are very high. But the current practice of collecting vegetables by scooter daily won’t be affordable to fulfil that demand and supply. Harvesting must be done on time; otherwise, the product will contaminate. That is why farmers keep request to purchase their product immediately. So that the cold storage is necessary to collect vegetables on a weekly basis. This was the challenge he shared with us.

After associating with RERP, awareness has increased among farmers. He also feels for himself that trading power, facilitating, coordinating, and technical skills have been enhanced. Three local youths are fully and partially employed in his outlet as helpers and laborers. Expressing gratitude towards RERP, he said, “Whatever I earn is countless.’’