Sunsari In Dharan, the business of Ranga sukuti and pickle made from it is flourishing. Women who prepare sukuti and pickles at home and sell them have recently started using social media as a means of business expansion. Traders say that when the products are promoted through Tiktok, Facebook and Instagram, orders are received from various places in the country and abroad.
There are shops selling sukuti in Niketan Galli, east of Bhanuchok, the main square of Dharan. There is a rush of customers buying sukuti from morning till evening. The number of women who not only run shops in the street and sell but also make sukuti and pickles at home and take orders through social media is increasing.
It has been 6 years since Nita Tamang of Dharan sub-metropolitan city-15 started selling sukuti. She has been selling sukuti along with pickle made from it in Niketan Galli from morning till evening. She said that the demand for sukuti and pickle prepared by her is not only in Nepal but also abroad. According to him, orders for sukuti and pickles are coming from countries including UK, USA and Hong Kong.
Social media has now become an effective medium for business. “Rather than sitting in the street all day waiting for customers, if you promote the product through Tik Tok and Facebook, you can reach more customers. “There are many customers who order online after seeing sukuti and pickles on social media,” said Tamang.
Tamang informed that she used to buy up to 120 kg of roe meat at a time and make sukuti at home. It is his experience that it is easy to dry sukuti when the sun is shining. She said that the sukuti dries in three days because the sun is shining now.
He says that it takes up to a week to dry in winter and when the sun is not shining, it takes more time to dry even in the fire. Tamang said that the monthly income from sukuti business is 80 thousand to 1 lakh rupees.
Binita Giri of Dharan-15 has also been selling sukuti and pickles made from it for 9 years. According to him, according to the quality, sukuti is sold at Rs 1,600 to Rs 3,000 per kg. Similarly, she said, pickled sukuti is sold for Rs 1,600 to 2,000 per kg.
Sukuti prepared by Giri reaches Dharan, Itahari, Jhapa and Kathmandu. She informed that the sukuti will be sent to countries including Hong Kong and the UK. His experience is that with the increase in the use of social media such as TikTok, Facebook and Instagram, it has become easier to do business online.
Giri said that it is easy to dry sukuti when the sun is shining, but when the sun is not shining, they have to buy firewood to dry it. He said that this will increase the cost of production and affect the income from business.
Dilkumari Tamang, who has been selling sukuti in Niketan Galli, said that she earns good income by doing business from morning to 6 pm. He says that if you work a little hard, you can earn good income from sukuti. She said, “I have been running a home business from the sukuti business. It takes a lot of time and effort to prepare sukuti.”
Most of the sukuti traders in Dharan are women. They buy the meat of the snake and prepare sukuti at home and sell it in the market. Some people make pickles and sell them along with sukuti. Along with women who run shops in Bhanuchok and Niketan Galli, there are also people who sell sukuti and pickles to order from home.
The business of sukuti and pickles has greatly helped women to become self-employed, manage their household expenses and expand their businesses. Traders say that the attraction of women towards this business is increasing because different dishes can be prepared and sold from the same product and customers can be reached through social media. Rasas