SATV 10 July, Kathmandu: Krishna Datt Bhatt, born in 1969 A.D., is currently the Division Forest Officer at the Division Forest Office, Kailali. Though born in the Tarai, Bhatt has established a large nursery in his ancestral land near Bhadrapur, Ajaymeru Rural Municipality–3, in a place called Palli Siroli.
Here he is nurturing various herbal saplings. His nursery currently houses 15,000 Bodhichitta saplings, along with other non-timber plants like sandalwood, rudraksha, timur, cinnamon, bakaino, and bamboo saplings.
He has now planted hundreds of Bodhichitta and Agarwood saplings along with running a goat farm on land that had remained barren since his father's time. He mentioned that last monsoon he planted 1,600 Agarwood and 250 Bodhichitta saplings and this year he plans to plant an additional 1,000 Bodhichitta saplings.
He aims to raise 200 female goats annually, which, according to him, would allow him to sell around 500 goats per year. He said, “Selling 500 goats annually would be profitable. Anyone can calculate that.” He has also planted 10,000 saplings of various species of “Dalle grass” for goat farming.
Along with this, he also plans for beekeeping. Since trees like mango, litchi, and chiuri (Scalpel) thrive in warm climate and grow well in the area, beekeeping would be feasible, he believes.
About 30 years ago, when Bhatt visited his ancestral home for the first time, he discovered that around 300 ropnais of land was in his name. Seeing only pine trees there inspired him to start the nursery and other agricultural activities. He mentioned, “I started this to make good use of the barren land. This also serves as a learning model for others.” He added, “The thought of what to do after retirement also came to mind. If I can do something good, my sons too can stay in the country and make a good living. It becomes a source of inspiration.” He believes that earning NRS 1 to 2 million annually in the village itself would eliminate the need to go abroad.
He informed that it had cost him NRS 1.6 million to establish the nursery and farmland three years ago. In recent years, operational expenses have been covered by the income from selling nursery plants and goats. Currently, five people are employed at his nursery farm and goat shed.
