5 January, Kathmandu. The Raute community, an endangered caste, has started to join the agricultural profession along with the ancient profession of making wooden utensils. A Raute farmer involved in agriculture has also been awarded as the best farmer.
In a program held in Kathmandu on Thursday, Nepal Agricultural Cooperative Central Union Limited awarded the Raute farmer Lal Singh Raute of Dadeldhura as the best farmer. Singh has been farming and rearing cattle on five plantations of land received from the government and three plantations of Adhia in Katla-4 in Parashuram municipality of Dadeldhura district.
‘I have been rearing goats and buffaloes for three years, I also do woodwork. Earlier, the only source of income was wood wages. Now I am going to do both,” he said. Thirty-two-year-old Singh said that although he did not have formal studies, his ancestral skills and agricultural profession have increased his source of income. He says that even though there is not much income from agriculture, daily life has become easy. He has been running a family of five from this profession.
He came to Kathmandu to receive the award and said that he visited Kathmandu for the first time. ‘I have received an award. There was also an opportunity to see the (old) capital of your country. It is a pleasure to see Singha Darbar’, he said.
Singh, who said that he had reached Shimla in India as a child, said that his three-day stay was too short to see the old capital of his country. ‘I wanted to visit the Pashupatinath temple. But I am returning due to lack of time. I will come to visit Kathmandu again for the second time.’ He says that although he does not have much income from goat rearing, vegetable farming and wheat production, his daily life is good.
Dadeldhura Katla Top Small Farmers Krishi Sahakari Sanstha Limited President Birendra Bisht facilitated Singh to come to Kathmandu. ‘The Raute community feels uncomfortable coming to the program. Like others, he did not agree to come. He came after he was told that he can visit Kathmandu city’, said Bisht.
The attraction towards agricultural profession for income is increasing among the Raute community who are wage laborers in wood work. Along with Singh, 67 people related to agriculture have joined the cooperative in Katla-4 in Parashuram municipality of Dadeldhura district. But only a few rural farmers are engaged in subsistence commercial agriculture.
He said that some of the youth of the Route community go to India for employment and some are dependent on government allowances. He said, ‘There are many who rely on the fact that the allowance will come. As a result, they could not be creative. Their participation in business and employment has not been increased.’
