Suraj Lal Chaudhary, the owner of Suraj Agrovet Center, lives with 14 members in a joint family in Baruwagaun village of Lamahi Municipality-02 of Dang district. The agrovet was established in 2009 and registered formally in 2013 to supply agricultural inputs in his locality.

When COVID-19 started, he faced difficulties managing his business because of supply chain trouble and the disruption’s negative consequences, lack of proper agricultural inputs supply and insufficient funds to expand his business. However, he could continue the business when he received assistance from the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), which provided him with a loan of Nepali rupee (NPR) 800,000 ($6,060) from the Mega Bank (now Nepal Investment Mega Bank). With the loan, he gradually increased the stock of agricultural inputs. As a result, his monthly gross income increased to NPR 220,000 ($1,660) from the NPR 140,000 ($1,060) that he had been collecting before the project supported him for credit availability. Additionally, in 2022, Mr. Suraj hired Renu Chaudhary as a community business facilitator (CBF) for five months to extend his business, to whom CSISA provided sales skills and technical training. Based on a mutual agreement, she conducted several group sales meetings with different farmer groups, contributing to a 10% increase in his sales. USAID/Nepal-supported CSISA also facilitated the expansion of his business through promotional activities (annual calendar and pocket diary distribution) to reach farmers in distant areas.

As a result, Suraj Agrovet Center is now offering services to an average of 550 customers per month. This initiative is supported by the Feed the Future for Global Hunger and the Food Security Initiative under USAID/Nepal, implemented by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), in association with CSISA response and resilience partners iDE Nepal, International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Cornell University,  Texas A&M University (TAMU) and aligned with Transforming Agrifood Systems in South Asia (TAFSSA).