BHUSAN YADAV

Shyambadan Yadav, a software engineer left his fancy job in the city to become a dairy farmer in his village. He knew it was a huge risk, but he overcame his doubts and mortgaged his family land to set up a dairy plant in his village with an investment of Rs 10.7 million. "The poor have always remained poor, and they haven't had a way out. I decided to take the risk to improve their livelihood," he says.

Today, Yadav's plant has changed the lives of 1,500 local farmer families. "With work opportunities available in the village, the number of people migrating to India for work has gone down and the lifestyles of villagers have changed for the better," notes Sadhu Yadav of Parshurampur. Sadhu, who worked in Punjab for seven years, now raises cows in his village and delivers milk to Shyambadan's dairy every morning.

Shyambadan Yadav was earning a salary of Rs 50,000 at the Bhagwati Steel Company in Birgunj when he decided to venture into dairy farming. "My job only paid for my family, this industry supports hundreds of others," he says. The one-time engineer now wakes up at five in the morning and does all the farm work: cutting grass, feeding cows, and cleaning their waste. He raises 10 cows on his farm and buys 1,800 litres of milk from the farmers every day.

Yadav has also invested in 40 buffaloes for poor families from nearby villages without taking collateral as surety for the loans, which can be paid back with the milk they sell in the dairy over an extended period of time. Work is already underway to invest in 300 buffaloes for other poor families. "I want families without any land of their own to be able to pay for their children's education," Yadav says.

READ ALSO:
Blame game
Deplorable airport
Corruption at the core
Traffic in a jam
Khukuris to ploughshares
Employment in employment