As a corporate entity committed to serving the needs of society, Buddha Air firmly believes that charity begins at home. Although the company regularly provides millions in donation to various causes, this for us is not the end of what many companies define as corporate social responsibility. Our understanding is that for any progressive transformation to be brought about in society there has to be fundamental changes in the economy. Buddha Air believes that corporate houses have a special responsibility in introducing creative innovations to uplift society.

With the growth of the company and the rise in the financial charts Buddha Air began identifying sectors where we could make substantial impact and came to the conclusion that for society to progress the rural masses must be taken into consideration. A majority of Nepal’s population live in rural areas and still rely on agriculture as the basic means of livelihood although this proportion is slowly changing. With the growth of the economy subsistence farmers are slowly turning into cash cropping to increase their income. This is a major challenge for the rural society as they have been practicing traditional agricultural methods which are not sufficient to meet the needs of the market, access to which largely depends on information and technology used.

Keeping this fact in mind in 2000 Buddha Air started an agricultural extension program as a pilot project in Morang district. The program was initiated with the objective of helping small scale local farmers gain access to market as well as increase their productivity by introducing innovative technology to them. With assistance of Buddha Air the farmers were able to increase their production output by applying appropriate fertilizer management, updated technology and better seeds.

As the confidence of the farmers grew two major challenges were identified. The first was that they were not able to get the right price for their products at the right time due to lack of crop banking facilities and information about the market. Secondly because of the lack of access to credit at nominal rates farmer debts were increasing. As most farmers were still relying on the same middlemen who bought their produce for credit at astronomical rates, the farmers were increasingly indebted to the same middlemen and could not imagine ever coming out of this vicious cycle on their own.

Buddha Air funded the seed money to start Smallholder Agribusiness Support (SABS) in Tankesinwari and Hattimuda VDC of Morang district in east Nepal with the objective of helping to reduce the debt burden of farmers. 14 farmer groups associated with SABS then came together to form the Tankisinwari Agro-commodity Marketing Cooperative Ltd registered under the Cooperative Act of Nepal.The Cooperative provides loans to needy farmers who are members of the cooperative at the start of each plantation season at an interest of 12% per annum, much less than the 60% interest charged by the middlemen. The farmers now have an option of preserving their products with the cooperative and selling it for a profit at the right time which can be several months later. 2005 was the first successful season of product banking for paddy when farmers were able to get twice as much due to the higher yield, savings in interest, and better prices.


However for Buddha Air this was just a small step towards the bigger goal. With the growth of the company we have accepted our greater responsibility and have begun initiatives that will benefit the more extended communities with its grass root focus. We are proud to state that as part of our measure to give back to society Buddha Air has begun the process of planning to establish the Rural Development Bank that will focus on product banking and be involved in supporting each step of the agriculture extension program.

At Buddha Air we also realise that unless our employees benefit from their services the company itself will not be able to serve the greater purpose. Our employee pay scale is at par and in fact higher than that of most other corporate houses and government agencies. We however also realise that this is not enough. To enhance employee benefits Buddha Air staff will be provided shares in the conceptualised Rural Development Bank, although a majority of the shares in the bank will remain with the concerned sector of the general public.

Buddha Air reiterates that the company shall remain committed to the growth of the nation and shall continue serving the needs of society through our dedicated and reliable services. We shall continue to provide necessary interjections in needy sectors and look forward to seeing a prosperous Nepali society.