Aviation tycoon Birendra Bahadur Basnet on why farming is safer than flying

After a Rs25 million operating loss at his rice mill, the Buddha Air founder says better storage, distribution and bank-backed guarantees can make agriculture profitable.

Few businesses sit further apart than aviation and rice. Birendra Bahadur Basnet, founder of Buddha Air, has spent a lifetime in one and is now betting heavily on the other. Born in Banaras and raised in Morang, he began farming commercially in the mid-1980s. Today he is building an ‘anchor enterprise’ around Arjun Rice Mill, aiming to link 10,000 bigha of smallholder paddy to bank credit, machinery and a guaranteed buyer.