Korean cash cows: Heifers drive dairy gains for Nepali farmers
Korean cows help build Nepal's sustainable rural economy, says Kamalamai mayor
SINDHULI, Nepal — In Kamalamai Municipality of Nepal's Sindhuli District, Korean aid is delivering visible results, chiefly in the rising incomes of local dairy farmers.
Upendra Kumar Pokharel, mayor of Kamalamai Municipality, has witnessed the changes firsthand.
'For farmers with limited income, this project has been transformative. Dairy productivity is up, and so are local incomes,' he said during a press interview.
In December 2022, South Korea's Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, together with the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation and non-profit organization Heifer Korea, dispatched 100 high-performing Holstein heifers and eight bulls to Nepal.
Of these, 80 were placed in Kamalamai's Korea-Nepal Model Dairy Village.
Since the arrival of Korean Holstein heifers, many farmers have seen a dramatic rise in milk yields, five to six times more than local varieties, according to Pokharel.
Farmers who once earned just 5,000 Nepalese rupees ($36) per month are now making up to 30,000 rupees. 'Roughly 80 percent of local dairy farmers have seen measurable improvements in both yield and income,' he added.
Beyond milk, the impact is spilling into other sectors, creating a virtuous circle. With Korea's support, an eco-friendly biogas system now recycles dairy manure into kitchen fuel and serves as fertilizer to boost crop yields.
Pokharel outlined potential new business opportunities, including processing milk into value-added products and establishing feed production facilities and small-scale dairy processing centers to generate additional jobs.
Local infrastructure has also improved, most notably through the installation of a 1-metric-ton-capacity water tank, with one-third of the cost covered by the municipal government.
Still, the mayor stressed the need for continued external support. 'We're doing our best, but local funding is limited. Support from the central government and international partners like Korea remains essential.'
The success has drawn national attention, with mayors from other regions visiting Sindhuli to see the model dairy village firsthand, with a close eye on its cattle-raising environment.
'They want to replicate our cow sheds and farming systems,' the mayor chuckled.
Projecting forward, the mayor shared his vision of Kamalamai becoming a national hub for dairy education, where local farmers take the lead in training their peers across Nepal.
"We hope to move forward through continued collaboration, enabling our farmers to achieve greater growth and success," he added.
minmin@heraldcorp.com
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Korea Herald
a day ago
- Korea Herald
MINISO Opens Seoul Flagship Store, Taps Interest-driven Consumption with Global IP Partnerships
SEOUL, South Korea, June 27, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- On June 21, Global lifestyle brand MINISO opened its first MINISO flagship store in South Korea. Located at 429 Gangnam-daero in Seoul's bustling Seocho District, the store introduces a new retail concept blending global IP collaborations with localized Korean experiences. The grand opening marks a significant milestone in MINISO's expansion strategy in Korea, bringing its signature joyful lifestyle products and globally popular IP collaborations to one of Asia's most dynamic retail markets. Spanning two floors and covering over 500 square meters, the standalone building features more than 3,500 SKUs across categories including vinyl plush toys, blind boxes, and accessories. The new flagship store is strategically positioned in the heart of Gangnam-daero, one of Seoul's most vibrant commercial hubs. As the home of Korea's largest health and beauty retail chain, the area is a hotspot for both local consumers and international tourists, particularly those from across Asia. The store's accessibility is further enhanced by its close proximity to one of Seoul's busiest subway stations, with an estimated foot traffic of more than 150,000 visitors per day and direct service from 12 bus routes. As MINISO's first national flagship store in South Korea, the new store represents a significant step forward in the brand's evolution in the market. The new format emphasizes creating immersive brand experiences through dedicated zones for both global and local IP collaborations, enhanced digital interaction points, and thoughtfully curated product selections designed to resonate with Korean consumers. The Seoul flagship paves the way for MINISO's future presence in South Korea, with plans to launch more upgraded stores and expand into prime shopping districts including Myeongdong, Jamsil and other areas. To celebrate the store opening, MINISO launched its hugely popular Stitch Blind Box Series in South Korea for the first time, with the products were quickly snapped up on opening day. The collection features vinyl plush figures of fan-favorite Disney alien Stitch in a series of cute and adorable styles. Already a big hit with Gen Z and millennial audiences worldwide, the collection has taken global markets by storm, making appearances in countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, the UAE, and Thailand through a series of pop-up and more. For the store launch, MINISO also organized a series of events, including the release of Stitch vinyl blind boxes and fan meet-and-greets that together added to the lively atmosphere and drove high volumes of engagement. "The debut of the Seoul flagship store further underscores MINISO's commitment to retail innovation and localized consumer experiences for the Korean market," said Vincent Huang, Vice President and General Manager of MINISO Overseas market. "South Korea is an important strategic market both within Asia and globally, serving not only as a testing ground for consumer innovation, but also as the birthplace of new major trends. Success in South Korea, especially among young consumers, will be the ultimate validation of MINISO's interest-driven consumption strategy. The opening of our Seoul flagship marks the official start of this new strategy in South Korea, through which we are not only expanding our store network but using these stores to provide critical insights for MINISO's operations throughout Asia." Following the store opening, MINISO will continue to leverage its IP collaborations and localized retail strategies to accelerate its growth in South Korea. This includes plans to offer Korean consumers a more globally inspired platform of playful and popular products through MINISO's expansion to other prime locations and the brand's first mall store in the Hyundai Group's shopping complex. This will be followed by strategic partnerships with other prominent South Korean retail groups. MINISO's Korean operations will initially focus on high-traffic locations with consumer bases strongly aligned with the brand's target consumers. Through this interest-driven consumption strategy and adaptation to Korea's unique market dynamics, MINISO aims to build a highly localized network that combines scale with cultural relevance.
Korea Herald
a day ago
- Korea Herald
Will NATO's new spending target be boon to S. Korea's defense exports?
Expectations are rising that South Korean defense firms will emerge as key beneficiaries of Europe's expanding defense spending, with much of the optimism attributed to the country's proven capacity to meet NATO's surging procurement demands. Speaking Thursday after returning from the NATO summit in The Hague, national security adviser Wi Sung-lac said, 'With NATO moving to raise its defense spending from around or even below 2 percent to 5 percent of GDP (gross domestic product), demand is bound to surge — and that means there's significant room for cooperation. South Korea is one of the few countries capable of meeting that growing demand.' Wi attended the summit on behalf of President Lee Jae Myung, delivering Lee's letter expressing Seoul's strong commitment to deepening defense industry cooperation with the alliance. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte welcomed the message and reaffirmed NATO's willingness to strengthen ties with South Korea, according to Wi. The strengthening of ties between South Korea and NATO came amid the trans-Atlantic alliance's broader efforts to boost defense spending to historic levels. At the summit in The Hague, NATO members adopted a joint communique agreeing to raise defense budgets to 5 percent of gross domestic product by 2035, more than double the alliance's previous 2 percent guideline. Of the new target, 3.5 percentage points will go toward traditional defense expenditures such as weapons procurement and personnel, while the remaining 1.5 percentage points will support military infrastructure, including cyber defense, logistics and artificial intelligence-enabled systems. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, European defense spending climbed 11.7 percent year-on-year to $457 billion in 2024. If the 5 percent NATO target is met, that figure could surge to $800 billion — vastly expanding the market for suppliers like South Korea. One expert noted South Korea is already well-placed to take advantage of NATO's growing defense spending, attributing this to its long-standing military investments — widely seen as a response to persistent security threats from North Korea. 'Unlike many countries that scaled back military investment after the Cold War, South Korea has continuously built up its capabilities,' said an analyst at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, who declined to be named. 'That long-standing commitment has resulted in field-tested, export-ready systems — giving Korean firms a clear edge in responding to Europe's urgent defense needs.' Local defense firms are also viewing Europe's expanded defense budgeting as a major opportunity to scale up exports and solidify their foothold in the region, while saying South Korea's defense industry is capable of doing so. 'South Korea's strength lies in its mass production capabilities. It will likely take European manufacturers four to five years to rebuild that level of capacity, so this spending increase represents a major opportunity for us,' said an official at a Korean defense firm. According to the official, South Korean firms are well-prepared to meet the surge in demand, thanks to ongoing efforts to localize production in response to increased demand following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Hanwha Aerospace, for example, is expanding artillery exports and building production lines in Poland and Romania, LIG Nex1 is preparing to open its first European office in Germany and Hyundai Rotem is nearing a $6 billion deal with Poland to supply 180 additional K2 tanks. Riding on the uptrend in defense exports, South Korea and NATO agreed this week to create a bilateral consultative body to facilitate regular dialogue on defense industry cooperation. Wi said the new platform will support greater interoperability through defense standardization and enable deeper coordination in NATO's High-Visibility Project — a multilateral initiative for the joint development and procurement of next-generation capabilities. 'If we achieve a higher level of standardization, it will create a better environment for exports and deeper cooperation,' Wi said. 'The new consultative body aims to accelerate this process.'
Korea Herald
a day ago
- Korea Herald
Justice Ministry to add over 22,000 foreign seasonal workers in 2nd half
The South Korean government announced Friday plans to allocate some 22,700 foreign seasonal workers in the second half of this year, supporting rural farming and fishing communities experiencing labor shortages during the harvest season. The Ministry of Justice, which held a council meeting to review the allocation of overseas seasonal workers with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries on Tuesday, announced it would assign 22,731 foreign workers to 100 local governments nationwide. The ministry stated that the decision reflects the urgent labor demands of farms and fisheries ahead of the upcoming harvest season. With the addition, a total of 95,700 foreign seasonal workers will be hired to work at South Korean farms or fisheries this year nationwide. Among them, 86,633 employees will work in agriculture, while 8,876 will be allocated to fisheries. Seoul has earlier announced plans to employ 72,684 of such workers in the first half. The 2025 figure for foreign seasonal workers represents a 41 percent increase compared to last year's 66,778. The government is also aiming to enhance language support services to minimize language barriers between foreign workers and local employers. Though the ministry previously assigned one interpreter when more than 100 workers with the same nationality were employed and up to two interpreters for more than 300, it decided to assign more interpreters for each language based on specific demand from the respective local governments. The measure was made to reduce misunderstandings and miscommunication, while improving work efficiency and the retention rate of workers.
