MYAGDI: Teachers and students of Dhawalagiri Secondary School in Dhawalagiri Rural Municipality-2 have launched a vegetable farming initiative, taking two ropanis of land in Muna on rent for Rs 5,000 per year.
According to Principal Rupesh Subedi, cabbage, cauliflower, radish, carrot, and tomato seedlings have already been planted on one ropani of land under two plastic tunnels.
“Last week, students of classes 8, 9, and 10, along with teachers, prepared the land and planted the seedlings during their free time,” he said. The remaining one ropani will be used to grow onion seedlings for sale.
The initiative aims to provide students with practical and professional knowledge in agriculture, meet the vegetable needs of the school hostel, and generate income for the school through vegetable sales, Principal Subedi explained.
The project is supported by the Dhawalagiri Rural Municipality under the program ‘Dhawalagiriko Aakansha: Garikhane Shiksha’ (Dhawalagiri’s Wish: Education for Livelihood) for the fiscal year 2081/82. The rural municipality has covered the cost of fertilizers, seeds, plastic tunnels, and land rent using the allocated budget of Rs 150,000.
Chairman of the rural municipality, Prem Prasad Pun, said the program was implemented at both Hem Namuna Residential Secondary School and Dhawalagiri Secondary School to help students acquire income-generating skills alongside their education.
At Hem Namuna Residential Secondary School in Jhindanda, 50 hostel students have converted six ropanis of paddy fields into vegetable farmland. Pun added that the program, which had a budget of Rs 300,000 last year, proved effective and is being continued this year as well.
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