Sweet fruit of hard work

Bodhraj Aryal in his farm.

OCT 29 -

When a ‘penniless’ Bodhraj Aryal first dabbled in agriculture 20 years ago little did he imagine that one day he would be one of the leading farmers in Syangja . Started off with 50 coffee plants, 11 tomato seedlings and five orange plants in 1993, Aryal has now 37,000 coffee plants and 1,300 orange trees and produces 25 varieties of vegetables on 200 ropanis. His agribusiness has an annual turnover of around Rs 5 million and a net profit of Rs 1.5 million. “It’s dream come true for me,” says Aryal.

His journey, however, was not all plain sailing, with many ups and downs over the years. “I ran up a debt of Rs 200,000 as I was trying to expand my agribusiness in the initial years. Keeping the family afloat was an arduous task too,” recalls the 38-year-old. He was on an emotional roller coaster for days when his relatives despised him for taking up agriculture and started making doom and gloom predictions about his future. However, he was never haunted by the prospects of a grim future. “I was pretty sure that life would not be gloomy for hardworking people,” says the sole breadwinner of his five-member family. Despite his villagers foretelling that the stars had not aligned in his favour, he never lost his head and always stuck with the patience of a saint. “I didn’t get distracted even when my entire orange trees were lashed badly by hailstorm right before the harvest season.” In the meantime, he met with Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer Shigeyukai Kutsuzawa. “He taught the ABCs of agriculture and instilled confidence in me.”

Aryal is drawing praise from his colleagues and others. “Bodhraj of today is totally different from the one who remained in obscurity a few years ago,” says Krishna Adhikari, another farmer in the district who envies the way Aryal shaped up in this sector. Adhikari also knows how Aryal sailed through. “He excelled simply by virtue of tenacity and perseverance, which is a mantra for all farmers.” Today, those who know Aryal say his success is a proof that anybody can make a mint at home and that one doesn’t have to go abroad. More than two dozen prizes, both international and national, that he bagged for doing exemplary works being a farmer speak volumes about his success. He also set up a few organisations to promote agriculture.