Ms. Dil Kumari Chaudhary owns Sahara Agrovet Center in Basgadhi Municipality-5, Banke district. Sales dropped during COVID–19 and she was on the verge of closing the business until 2021; CSISA supported her in accessing a subsidized loan of NPR1 million (US$7576) from Mega Bank. With the loan, she could refresh her stock of agriculture inputs and re-establish her client network.

Above: Dil Kumari Chaudhary, owner of Sahara Agrovet Center, Basgadhi Municipality-5, Banke. June 16, 2023. Photo credit: Roshan Bhandari

Since the second wave of COVID–19 in the spring of 2021, Ms. Chaudhary’s business has seen a 30% increase in daily transactions, from NPR4000–NPR7000 before she collaborated with CSISA to NPR15,000 now.
CSISA also showed Ms. Chaudhary how to appoint a community business facilitator (CBF), who has significantly expanded the business to farmers in distant areas. As a result of this collaboration, Sahara Agrovet now provides agricultural information and sells inputs to 700 farming households in Basgadhi and Badiyataal municipalities, a considerable increase from the previous 300. At recent rice planting time, the agro vet sold paddy seed worth NPR100,000 (US$758) through the CBF.

A further intervention of CSISA has provided Ms. Chaudhary with business management training and improved agriculture practices, increasing her entrepreneurial acumen. It has also facilitated the business’s enrollment in the Kisan credit vendor scheme. This encourages farmers with the Kisan credit card to become customers, of Ms. Chaudhary’s agro vet, by using it to source their agriculture inputs.