Rajman Tamang sir, the principal of Shree Ram School, told us about Sanjay. On the bus back to Palanchowk, Rajman sir happened to sit next to Sanjay and saw a sack filled with Cauliflowers.
Sanjay was Rajman sir’s student in school but he had graduated a couple of years ago and hadn’t known what Sanjay was up to. Surprised and curious Rajaman sir inquired why Sanjay had the sack full of Cauliflowers. Sanjay replied his father was not well and he had to help in the field, he decided to grow Cauliflowers as it was a profitable vegetable in the region. In fact, Sanjay told Rajman sir that he had sold Cauliflowers worth 60,000 Rupees ($500appx) that month. That is a very high revenue in Nepal, where the annual GDP per capita is around $1300. What an excellent job Rajman sir thought but didn't discuss it further with Sanjay.
We met Rajman sir on a normal trip to Shree Ram school and wanted to scout for extraordinary students (who could be academically average to low but show extraordinary skills) he mentioned Sanjay to us then. The passion for agriculture in an agricultural country like Nepal is indispensable. Luckily we had also come in contact with Taja Farm co-founders — Padam & Ashish (god bless the internet). We requested Padam to come with us to see Shree Ram school with us and maybe scout Sanjay to train him in high-tech agriculture.
Taaja Farm has implemented Israel's technology to do covered greenhouse farming with a drip irrigation system. Thanks to Padam, Sanjay was accepted and had been admitted for a 3 months training program at Taaja Farm. Sanjay learned the process of measuring and growing vegetables with controlled nutrients and fertilizer needed for growth without harming consumers. Sanjay can now grow bigger than 1.5–3kg Cauliflower compared to his previous 0.5–1.5 kg Cauliflowers. Skills matter and we hope he can use whatever he has learned at Taaja to grow better vegetables back home.
Before Sanjay completed his training at Taaja Farm we got to buy his Cauliflower (photo above). All is well and happy, we look forward to having many more Cauliflowers from the farm and from many Sanjays to come!